Fighting Alone
by Dragonthunder89
Summary: This is my take on book 5, Sirius survives, but the aftermath of the battle has caused problems between the trio, Harry prepares to embrace his fate. H/Hr!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to J.K. Rowling.

AN: Hi readers! I am back with another story, and yes I know this has been done before but I wanted to try my hand at it and see where it will go! Well anyway here we go!

**Dragonthunder89**

**Fighting Alone**

Harry rose from the cold rock and discovered that his friends were no longer standing next to him. He slowly turned around and saw that each one was being held by a Death Eater. Harry focused his attention on Lucius Malfoy as he approached Harry.

"Did you really believe? Or were you really naive enough to think that children stood a chance, against us?" Lucius asked.

Harry turned as Lucius walked around him and turned to face him.

"I'll make this simple for you Potter, give me the prophecy now or watch your friends die," Lucius said as he extended his hand.

"Don't give it to him Harry!" Neville shouted.

"Shh!" Bellatrix hissed as she jabbed Neville in the throat with her wand.

Harry slowly handed the small orb to Lucius in defeat. Lucius took the orb and held it up to hear what the prophecy contained, when a bright white light flashed behind him. Lucius turned around and his eyes went wide.

"Get away from my godson," Sirius said as he punched Lucius hard.

Lucius fell and the prophecy was shattered. On top of that, Remus, Tonks, Moody, and Kingsley appeared and began to attack the Death Eaters holding the kids captive.

"I want you to take the others and get out of here," Sirius said.

"No, I'm staying with you," Harry argued.

"You've done beautiful here, now let me take it from here," Sirius replied.

They turned to see Lucius draw his wand and saw Dolohov join him. Harry and Sirius readied for their attacks. Lucius shot first and hit Sirius's arm as he shielded Harry. Harry blocked a curse from Dolohov and along with Sirius, went on the offensive. Both hurled spells at Lucius and Dolohov mercilessly who were barely able to block them. Harry's blood boiled as he fought Dolohov, he was the one who hurt Hermione, Harry was relieved though when he happened to glance to his left and saw that she, Ron, and Luna were taking cover behind a couple of rocks and watched the battle. Sirius managed to hit Dolohov and send him rolling downhill and Harry used Lucius's momentary distraction to disarm his left hand.

"Nice one James!" Sirius exclaimed.

Sirius then disarmed Lucius's right arm and then sent him flying with a powerful spell. Harry saw Bellatrix out of the corner of his eye and he tackled Sirius to the ground as the killing curse whizzed by their heads.

"You saved my life Harry," Sirius said.

Bellatrix began to run away, Sirius got up and began to duel Dolohov again as he recovered. Harry however, gave chase to Bellatrix in rage at what she tried to do.

"Crucio!" Harry yelled.

Bellatrix screamed and fell to the ground and turned as Harry beared down on her.

"_You've got to mean it Harry," _a familiar voice in his head said.

Voldemort appeared behind him and Harry spun around to attack him but Voldemort batted his wand away from him.

"So weak," Voldemort said in disgust.

To Voldemort's surprise, Dumbledore appeared out of the floo behind Harry.

"It was foolish of you to come here tonight Tom, the Aurors are on their way," Dumbledore said.

"By which time I'll be gone and you shall be dead," Voldemort replied.

Dumbledore pushed Harry out of the way and he and Voldemort sent spells at each other and both men struggled for control. Voldemort used the momentum of Dumbledore's spell to create a giant flaming serpent. Dumbledore smacked it and sent the flames at Voldemort. Dumbledore then bewitched the water in the big fountain to encase Voldemort in a giant water ball. Voldemort managed to escape and sent a huge shockwave throughout the atrium, shattering glass all over the place. He then used a spell to hurl the thousands of glass shards at Dumbledore and Harry. Dumbledore created a shield to turn the shards to powder effectively protecting himself and Harry. Voldemort suddenly disappeared and Harry fell to the ground. Voldemort was attacking Harry, only this time it was brutal and he was trying to possess him.

"You've lost old man," Voldemort said through Harry.

Harry cried out as he tried to resist, but Voldemort filled his head with death and loss to which Harry was losing his inner battle.

"Harry, it isn't how you are alike, it is how you are not," Dumbledore said desperately.

Harry cried out again as he fought Voldemort's onslaught.

"Harry," Dumbledore said.

At this point, Hermione, Ron, Luna, Ginny, and Neville had appeared and were looking at the mess until their eyes fell on Dumbledore and Harry. Harry looked at all of them and found new strength.

"You're the weak one, you will never know love or friendship, and I feel sorry for you," Harry said weakly and with several violent convulsive movements, Harry threw Voldemort out of his head.

Voldemort reappeared in front of Harry who laid on the floor, unable to move.

"You are a fool Harry Potter, and you will lose everything," Voldemort said before vanishing.

* * *

Harry slowly packed all of his things up for the trip home, even though they suffered no casualties, Harry was feeling guilty over his actions. He had almost gotten everyone that he cared for killed. The only positive thing that came out of the whole ordeal really was that Dumbledore was allowing Harry to go live with Sirius. Harry knew that Ron and Hermione were resentful towards him and that because of this school year, he was driven further from them until he was alone. The only person who was close to him now was Sirius, had it not been for him, Harry would have lost all hope of going on. Harry made his way down from the Gryffindor Common Room but he did not attend the end of the year feast with everyone else.

* * *

Ron and Hermione were sitting at the feast however, as they discussed how they felt towards Harry, Hermione was having an inner battle of her own.

"He really is a hot head you know, I mean Sirius wasn't even there yet Harry was going to go in anyway," Ron said.

"I know," Hermione agreed.

"_Sirius is the only family Harry has left, what would you or Ron have done?" _a voice inside Hermione argued.

"I mean, maybe Harry is barking mad, and we were just too bloody loyal to see it, you know that's just it," Ron continued.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"We can't let Harry suck us into his mistakes, if he wants to act like that he will have to do it alone," Ron replied.

_But what if he is right_?" Hermione thought.

"It seems like the Golden Trio is now down to two, Harry can do whatever he wants now, but we won't follow him," Ron said bitterly.

Hermione was troubled by this, but unknown to either of them, a boy with emerald eyes heard every word of what they said and tears began to flow as he made his way out onto the grounds to be alone. Harry walked down to the Black Lake and gazed out over the water, he felt a presence and turned to find Neville standing next to him.

"I don't care what everyone says Harry, I am with you. I thought no one would understand what I have had to deal with, but when I met you I realized that my problems don't even compare to yours," Neville said.

"No, your parents did not deserve what they got, and I promise you that Bellatrix will pay for what she has done," Harry vowed.

"What's wrong Harry?" Neville asked.

"It is always better to not get attached," Harry replied.

"What? Why?" Neville asked confused.

"Because then I have less to lose," Harry said sadly.

"Are you talking about Ron and Hermione?" Neville asked.

"I am talking about what I did at the Department of Mysteries, Sirius wasn't even there, I led all of you into a trap and almost got all of you killed," Harry replied.

"But we survived," Neville argued.

"Yeah, well what about next time? Voldemort is closer to me than ever before and he knows it, do yourself a favor Neville, Ron and Hermione are staying away from me and I suggest you do the same. You have to protect your family," Harry replied.

"But what about Dumbledore's army?" Neville asked.

"It helped didn't it? But fighting Voldemort is more than wand skill, it is a battle of the minds with him and I," Harry replied.

"What do you mean?" Neville asked.

"First let me say this, what I am about to tell you cannot get out to anyone," Harry replied.

"Sure," Neville said.

"I heard the prophecy, neither can live while the other survives, in the end one will stand and one will fall. Either I kill Voldemort, or he kills me, that is what it comes down to," Harry replied.

"Bloody hell Harry," Neville gasped.

"Keep that to yourself for now Neville, have a good summer," Harry replied effectively ending the conversation.

Neville hesitated, but with a sigh he left Harry to his thoughts. Harry was going to avoid all but one person, Sirius.

* * *

Ron and Hermione did not attempt to wait for Harry on their way to the train. They boarded it and found a compartment, they soon discovered however, that Harry would not join them. They did not see him at all.

"What a foul git," Ron said.

"It isn't like him, honestly, he's the one that led us down there and now he makes off like we did something wrong," Hermione replied.

Ron nodded as he munched on a chocolate frog, he had an idea though after the battle in the Department of Mysteries. He fancied Hermione and since the rift between Harry, Hermione and himself grew, he figured he would at least get the girl out of the deal.

"So Hermione, would you like to come and spend some time at the Burrow this summer?" Ron asked.

"Uh, well I'm not sure yet maybe but not right away," Hermione replied.

"Ok, that's cool, just owl me when you can," Ron said.

"Thanks Ron," Hermione replied.

* * *

Harry leaned against one of the walls outside of the compartments and stared out the window. He looked around when Cho Chang approached him.

"Listen Harry, I wanted to talk about what happened this year," Cho started.

"Fine, talk," Harry replied coldly.

"I wanted to apologize for what happened," Cho said.

"Really? You know it wouldn't have been so bad except that you sold us out and didn't warn us, and what's worse, not only did you not warn us, you got me to kiss you!" Harry shrieked.

"But Harry, didn't you like it?" Cho asked.

"Not really, it was awkward, and you were really depressed about Cedric's death so it felt so wrong," Harry replied.

"You don't mean that," Cho said on the verge of tears.

"Look Cho I'm sorry but I never want you to come near me ever again," Harry replied.

Cho said nothing and sprinted back the way she came sobbing. Harry didn't feel guilty, she deserved as much, he will never forget what happened, after they were caught. Later when they tried to use the floo in Umbridge's office.

_Umbridge sat Harry down while his friends were being held by the Inquisitorial Squad watching._

"_Why were you trying to get a hold of Dumbledore?" Umbridge asked._

_Harry said nothing and continued to look back at her in defiance._

"_Very well Mr. Potter, you leave me no choice," Umbridge replied as she drew her wand._

_Hermione struggled against her captors as did Ron and the others but they could not break free._

"_Last chance," Umbridge warned as she leveled her wand at Harry._

"_Do your worst," Harry challenged._

"_Fine, Crucio!" Umbridge cried._

_Harry cried out and shook violently as if he was being electrocuted but he still refused to say anything._

"_Stop it!" Hermione yelled._

_Umbridge lifted the curse and leaned down to a now sweating Harry. He was breathing heavily._

"_So Mr. Potter, are you ready to talk?" Umbridge asked._

"_You cowardly bitch," Harry snarled._

"_Crucio!" Umbridge cried._

_She tortured Harry for another five minutes until Hermione could take it no longer and came up with her plan to trick Umbridge._

Harry didn't notice Hermione coming up the corridor until she was almost right in front of him.

"Harry?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Yeah?" Harry asked in a flat tone.

"Why are you not sitting with us?" Hermione asked.

Harry could barely contain his anger, but then he realized that he wasn't supposed to know how Ron and Hermione felt.

"You already know the answer to that question," Harry replied as he turned to leave.

"What do you mean Harry? I am not a mind reader!" Hermione cried.

"Really? Then let me put it this way, the Golden Trio is down to two, sound familiar?" Harry snapped as he turned and walked away down the corridor.

Hermione gasped, had he overheard them? Silent tears began to fall from her eyes as she slowly made her way back to her compartment. Ron looked up as she entered and saw her tears.

"Hermione what happened?" Ron asked.

"I found Harry," Hermione managed.

"What? Where is he?" Ron asked.

"He left, I don't know where he went," Hermione replied.

"Well that was real decent of him," Ron said in disgust.

"Ron he heard us in the Great Hall!" Hermione burst out.

"Oh bugger, that was not how I planned on him finding out," Ron replied.

"I am going to find him," Hermione said getting up.

"Wait me too," Ron said.

The two walked in the direction Hermione saw him go. They asked several people where he was and they kept pointing up the train.

"Bloody hell, is he at the front of the train?" Ron asked.

They finally found him in the first car by himself and they entered and sat across from him.

"Well, to what do I owe this visit?" Harry asked coldly.

"Harry, we wanted to come and apologize," Hermione started.

"Well don't, besides, it sounds like you two will be very happy together anyway so go and have fun," Harry replied.

"Now listen here Harry," Ron said.

"No you listen, this year's events have put things into perspective for me and I am glad they did. I have a busy plan to execute so if you don't mind I have to get to work," Harry cut in.

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked.

"Why does it interest you? I can do things now and you will not follow or participate right?" Harry asked with a hint of a challenge.

Ron and Hermione were at a loss, they did the only thing they could think of, they left Harry and retreated back to their compartment.

"That didn't go so well," Ron said.

"What are we going to do?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing, we do as we agreed in the Great Hall today," Ron replied.

"How can you say that Ron?!" Hermione demanded.

"If he wants to act like that then let him! He thinks everything is about him!" Ron replied.

"Ron you know better than that! Harry is not like that!" Hermione cried in Harry's defense.

"Up until this year!" Ron shot back.

They stopped when Neville knocked and opened their compartment door.

"What's with all of the shouting guys?" Neville asked.

"Harry is full of himself! He thinks everything is about him!" Ron shouted.

"Don't talk about Harry like that! You two don't have a clue! Because as a matter of fact, everything is about him!" Neville said with a hint of anger they never heard before.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"I can't say why, but before we left Hogwarts, I talked to Harry and believe me, he has a big problem, he told me what he discovered, and I will say this now, Harry is going to face horrors that we can only dream of," Neville explained.

"He confided in you?" Hermione asked hurt.

" Yes, and I understand what he said, he told me not to tell anyone of what he said and I will hold true to that, but you should go ask him what he told me," Neville replied.

Hermione immediately set off to find Harry with Ron close behind. They found him where he was before and he was reading his defense books.

"What now?" Harry asked.

"Neville told us you confided in him, what did you tell him?" Hermione demanded.

"You know I shouldn't tell you, but I will be the bigger person and oblige, sit down," Harry replied.

"Why didn't you tell me at least Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Before I answer, let me ask you this, does it hurt, knowing I don't trust you enough to confide in you?" Harry asked.

Hermione was speechless, Harry was right, she and Ron did not trust him and she realized that was what bothered him the most. His two best friends didn't trust him, Hermione realized she couldn't blame him.

"Oh Harry," Hermione said.

"Now, when I grabbed that prophecy, I heard what it was. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal but he shall have power the Dark Lord knows not, because neither can live while the other survives," Harry recited.

"You mean that...?" Hermione started.

"In a final showdown, I will fight Voldemort, one shall stand and the other shall fall. Who the one standing will be I don't know, but I do know that for the good of everyone, I will fight him to the death," Harry explained.

The two sat gaping at Harry, and they didn't realize that they had arrived at King's Cross.

"Have a good summer," Harry said as he exited the compartment.

"Wait Harry!" Hermione jumped up after him.

She ran out into the corridor and barely saw him get off the train but she gave chase. Once outside however, she was intercepted by her family. Ron waved to her and joined the rest of the Weasley's. Hermione sighed in defeat and left with her parents.

* * *

Harry met his relatives and they all went home, the entire way uncle Vernon cursed at him since he had no one to verbally abuse all school year. Once Harry got inside with his things he walked into the living room where his uncle, aunt, and cousin sat watching a movie.

"What the hell do you want?!" Vernon demanded.

"I came to tell you that my godfather will be coming to get me soon and I will be leaving for good," Harry announced.

"Really?" Vernon asked.

"Yes, I will not be returning," Harry replied.

"Hooray! Petunia, get Dudley ready! We are going out to celebrate!" Vernon cried as he jumped up and began to dance around the room.

AN: Well there is the first chapter! Let me know what you think! Please review and until next chapter!

**Dragonthunder89**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to J. K. Rowling.

AN: Hello readers! I was surprised by the feedback I got last chapter, keep those reviews coming! Well anyway on with chapter two!

**Dragonthunder89**

**Fighting Alone**

Harry walked around his cramped bedroom for the last time in his life. He was going through everything to make sure he had everything, but he chuckled at the thought of forgetting something. He didn't have many personal belongings beyond his school stuff in the first place. Hedwig hooted from her cage and Harry looked up. Harry sat down at his desk and took out some parchment. He scratched a quick note to Sirius saying that he could come by whenever he was ready and rolled it up.

"Here girl, take this to Sirius," Harry said.

Hedwig nibbled Harry's finger before she took off out of the window. Harry watched her until she disappeared before he through the rest of his things into his trunk. Harry sat on his bed and realized that he had some time before Sirius would reply. So he pulled out one of his many defense books and began to read some of the more advanced spells and which ones were best in combat. Harry did not know how long he sat there reading, but Hedwig flew into the room and landed on Harry's bed. Harry looked up surprised, how long had he been reading? Harry took a small roll of parchment from her and unrolled it to find Sirius's handwriting.

_Harry,_

_I cannot come to pick you up directly, please go to the Leaky Cauldron as soon as you are able, I will meet you there._

_Sirius_

Harry crumbled up the parchment and threw it into the garbage by his desk and grabbed his things and began to make his way out of his old room. As he made his way down the stairs, Dudley stood in his path.

"About time we got rid of you," Dudley spat.

"Well, I never liked your company anyway," Harry shot back.

"Want a beating to remember me by?" Dudley asked cracking his knuckles.

Harry almost laughed, the previous year had done wonders for him physically and he knew at that moment that he could level Dudley if he wanted to.

"Don't try it cousin, you will end up regretting it," Harry warned.

"Brave today are we? Too bad, now I will teach you why people fear me," Dudley replied.

Harry didn't let him throw a punch, as Dudley began to move forward, Harry dropped his luggage and spun on his heel and back fisted his cousin in the face. Dudley cried out as he stumbled back clutching his now bleeding nose. Harry picked up his belongings and made his way out the front door, never to return.

* * *

Ron arrived home at the Burrow and saw by the looks on Molly's and Arthur's faces, they were not happy. So Ron threw his stuff in his room and went downstairs with Ginny to face their wrath.

"So Ronald and Ginerva, the Order has told us some very upsetting things that have happened this year," Molly said.

"Mom, Hermione and I realized how foolish we were to follow Harry into the Department of Mysteries," Ron replied.

"Oh? You realized that you all could have easily been killed?!" Molly demanded.

"Son, what you did was reckless and very dangerous, now I don't want you to attempt such a feat ever again do you hear me?" Arthur asked.

"We won't, Hermione and I are not on the best of terms with Harry," Ron replied.

This statement caught both by surprise and Ron knew it by their shocked faces.

"What happened?" Molly asked.

"Harry is barking mad, we went in there to save Sirius because Harry had a vision of You-Know-Who- torturing him. But when we got their, Sirius wasn't even there, it was a trap," Ron explained.

"Now Ron I think that is going a little far don't you think?" Arthur asked.

"No, if Harry wants to play the hero he can do it alone," Ron replied.

Before anyone could respond, a brown owl flew through the window and landed on the table. Arthur took the letter that was tied to the owl and began to read it.

"Oh, it looks like Hermione wants to spend some time here this summer," Arthur said.

"Well, she is more than welcome, tell her to come on over," Molly replied.

"We'll talk about Harry later, I have to get back to the Ministry," Arthur said as he wrote a quick reply and sent the owl off.

"What for?" Ginny asked.

"Fudge is going to resign, so naturally there is a lot of work to be done," Arthur replied.

"Be careful dear," Molly said as she pecked him on the lips.

Arthur waved at his children and stepped into the fireplace and in a green flash he was gone.

"Mum, what about Fred and George?" Ginny asked.

"Oh we already talked to them, they plan on opening up their joke shop," Molly said with disgust.

"What? But how will they be able to afford that?" Ron asked.

"They said they had a way and told us not to worry," Molly sighed.

Another green flash from the fireplace drew their attention as Hermione stepped out.

"Hermione dear, good to see you," Molly greeted as she hugged the young witch.

"Good to see you to Mrs. Weasley," Hermione replied returning the hug.

"Now, you kids run along, I have to prepare dinner," Molly said as she ushered them out of the kitchen.

* * *

Harry stood by the curb outside of his house and waved his wand in the air. With a loud bang, the all too familiar Knight Bus appeared. Stan stood there and Harry watched him read what he was required to say as the conductor before he noticed who he was talking to.

"Harry! Boy didn't expect to run into you this soon! Look Earn! It's Harry!" Stan called out.

"Good to see you too Stan," Harry replied as he clambered onto the triple decker bus.

"Where too?" Stan asked.

"The Leaky Cauldron," Harry replied.

"Alright, take her away Earn!" Stan ordered.

Harry was thrown back onto one of the beds as the bus shot off again. Harry still couldn't figure out how Stan wasn't getting thrown around.

"So Harry, what's new in your life?" Stan asked.

"Well nothing really, just another year of school done with," Harry replied.

"Yeah, I am surprised you-Know-Who has been as quiet as he has, but that only means he is going to hit the Wizarding World hard," Stan said.

Harry nodded in agreement, even though Voldemort attacked them in the Department of Mysteries, Harry knew that he and Sirius were bound to train vigorously. Sirius was going to do everything in his power to help prepare for the future battles with the dark forces. The battle in the Department of Mysteries was far too close a call for Harry's liking. Harry was torn from his thoughts as the Knight Bus came to a screeching halt which threw Harry against the window...again.

"The Leaky Cauldron," Stan announced.

"Thanks a lot, take care of yourself Stan," Harry said.

"Thanks Harry, you be especially careful, and remember, we will always come to help you out if you need it," Stan replied.

"Thanks a lot, bye," Harry said as he grabbed his things and exited the bus.

With a loud bang, the bus shot off and disappeared as Harry watched it for a few seconds. Harry turned and entered the rundown building. Harry was surprised to see that it was nearly empty, it was almost five thirty at least. Harry walked in and found Tom at the counter wiping the top with a dirty rag.

"Mr. Potter! Good to see you, can I get you anything?" Tom asked.

"No thanks Tom, I am just meeting someone here," Harry replied as he picked a table near the door with a window and sat down.

Harry noticed Tom pick up a _Daily Prophet_ and saw the headline:

**You-Know-Who Returns**

Harry realized that was why the bar was empty, everyone was avoiding anywhere but their homes. Harry suddenly became angry at the thought.

'_The mere thought of him makes people tremble'_ Harry thought with disgust.

Harry was drawn from his reverie by a tapping on the window. He turned and saw a black, shaggy dog staring at him. Harry smiled with joy and hurriedly went out to meet the dog. Padfoot began to trot to a secluded area where Harry guessed they would apparate from. Once there, Padfoot transformed into Harry's godfather. He put a finger to his lips and grabbed Harry by the shoulder. Then Harry felt the familiar tug behind his naval as Sirius apparated them to Grimmauld Place.

"Here we are, home sweet home!" Sirius exclaimed.

"This is fantastic! I can't believe I get to live with you from now on!" Harry cried.

"You seem almost more excited than I am at having you live here, but the place is a bit dark and depressing. Perhaps we can fix it up little by little," Sirius suggested.

"Sounds good," Harry agreed.

"Now, I will show you to your room," Sirius replied as he grabbed Harry's things and led him upstairs.

Sirius led him into the same room where Hermione nearly tackled him earlier this year. Sirius put his things on the bed and scanned the room quick before turning to Harry.

"Well, this should do, now I don't know about you but I am famished, how about we get something to eat and then I can show you the new room I fixed up," Sirius suggested.

"Great! I am starving!" Harry cried.

Harry followed Sirius down into the kitchen where they ran into Kreacher. The elf looked up at the duo in disgust and hate before he spoke.

"Master's dinner is ready," Kreacher announced.

"Very good, now away with you," Sirius replied in a flat tone.

"Of course master," Kreacher replied scathingly.

Harry sat down opposite of Sirius and gazed at the food in front of him, it all looked very good and he took special notice of the treacle tart which was his favorite.

"Before you start in Harry give me a second," Sirius said.

Harry nodded and watched Sirius wave his wand over each dish and studied it carefully. Finally after he had scanned the final dish he smiled at Harry and nodded.

"What were you doing?" Harry asked.

"Well, sometimes Kreacher tries to slip vile poisons into the food, I just had to make sure that these had none," Sirius replied.

"That's horrible, he must really hate you huh?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but he hates you even more," Sirius replied.

"Me? Why?" Harry asked surprised.

"Well, number one, you are not a pure blood, and number two, you defeated Voldemort when you were a baby," Sirius replied.

"Kreacher supports Voldemort?" Harry asked.

"Well...not Voldemort exactly, more like what Voldemort stands for," Sirius replied.

"Oh, I guess I can see it that way, but why would he side with him? We would treat him far better than Voldemort would," Harry asked.

"Only he would know the answer to that," Sirius replied as they started eating.

They ate in silence for awhile, both lost in their own thoughts until Sirius finally broke the silence.

"Harry, I promised you that we would be a proper family, and I will hold to that promise, but right now we are at war again with the dark forces, and I have planned some very extensive training for the both of us. We are going to prepare ourselves physically, emotionally, and magically. What this means is, we will hone our bodies with rigorous workouts, and you will strengthen your magical power because I know that with time and training, your magical abilities will far exceed anybody in the Order," Sirius explained.

"What about emotionally?" Harry asked.

"That will be the toughest for you, because I know how noble you are Harry and it is an excellent trait to have. But when it comes to Voldemort, you have to ignore what your heart tells you and do what your head tells you," Sirius replied.

"But Sirius, you don't expect me to choose to let my friends die?" Harry asked.

"Harry listen very carefully to me, I will give you an example. Say that Voldemort has Hermione, and you have something he wants, his conditions are to hand it over or he will kill Hermione. If you find yourself in a situation like this, you must not surrender whatever Voldemort wants, because this will give you an advantage over him," Sirius explained.

"I would never let him kill Hermione," Harry growled.

For some reason, the thought of Voldemort holding Hermione hostage made him boil with an unfathomable rage. Sure when he envisioned any of his other friends in that situation it made him angry, but those didn't even come close to what he felt when he envisioned Hermione being held captive. Harry looked up and saw Sirius give him a knowing smile. What was he smiling about?

"I know it will be hard, but you must not follow your heart in every case, especially if you want to defeat Voldemort, because he will use anything and everyone he can against you," Sirius said.

Harry sunk into his own thoughts again, it confused him, why was his reaction so much stronger with Hermione than with any of the others? Harry snapped out of his thoughts as Sirius stood and began to clear the table. Harry followed suit and they managed to clean up in less than ten minutes.

"Now, I would like to show you to the basement," Sirius said.

"This place has a basement?" Harry asked.

"Yep, now follow me," Sirius replied.

Sirius led Harry down the hall past Mrs. Black's portrait and stopped when he came to the crude statue of a house elf on a stand. Harry watched as Sirius twisted the statue one hundred and eighty degrees. To Harry's shock, the wall sunk inwards and rose up revealing a secret stairway that Harry guessed led to the basement.

"Wicked," Harry managed.

"Thought you would like that," Sirius replied.

Sirius led the way down the dark stairway and Harry followed. They walked for a long time, or so it seemed to Harry. They finally reached the bottom and came to a large door.

"This is it," Sirius said.

He opened the door and flipped on the lights and Harry gasped, the room was enormous. It had several different exercise machines and the floor was a huge wrestling mat.

"So, what do you think?" Sirius asked.

"It's brilliant!" Harry exclaimed.

"I'm glad you think so, because I have news for you, starting tomorrow, you and I begin our training. We train everyday except for Sunday, on Sunday we rest our bodies and train our minds," Sirius replied.

"Train our minds?" Harry asked.

"Of course, that foul git Snape wasn't teaching you anything, he was only abusing you, I will properly teach you Occulmency and I might get Tonks to help because she is more skilled at it than I am, likewise she and Remus have agreed to participate from time to time in your training," Sirius replied.

"Great, so what can I expect?" Harry asked.

"You'll see," Sirius replied grinning evilly.

"Hit me with everything you've got!" Harry challenged.

"Alright, but we best be getting to bed now, because we are going to be up very early," Sirius replied.

Harry groaned but nodded his head, he was not a morning person. With that they headed back upstairs and parted for the night. Harry changed into his sleep clothes, although that wasn't much since they consisted of just his boxers. Harry climbed into bed and stared at the ceiling thinking about how great this summer would be. Unfortunately for Harry, vicious nightmares awaited him in sleep.

* * *

Hermione sat on her bed in the Burrow talking to Ginny, they were talking about the previous year and the situation with Harry.

"Ginny, do you think Harry has gone mad?" Hermione asked.

"Honestly? I think he has a little bit," Ginny admitted.

"You mean you are siding with Ron and the _Daily Prophet_?" Hermione asked.

"I guess so, listen Hermione, I know you don't want to think so, but Harry is a little disturbed, I mean it surprises you that he has gone mad? I am surprised it has taken this long based on what happened to him," Ginny replied.

"How can you say that?!" Hermione demanded.

"What do you mean? He has had some weird and violent things happen to him and it's no wonder he has gone mad. I mean take the battle in the Department of Mysteries for example, Voldemort manipulated his mind to do what he wanted Harry to do. Because of that, it makes Harry dangerous and we must stay away from him," Ginny explained.

"But..." Hermione started.

"Hermione, your loyalty is admirable, but for your own safety and ours, we all have to distance ourselves from him, it is what's best," Ginny interrupted.

"But it's Harry we are talking about, he isn't mad," Hermione protested.

"Let's talk about this in the morning, it's getting late and I am tired," Ginny said as she tucked into her bed.

"Okay, goodnight Gin," Hermione replied.

"Goodnight Hermione," Ginny said.

Hermione turned out the light and laid down, but unlike Ginny Hermione couldn't sleep. She felt terrible about what had happened, and she had never seen Harry act the way he did towards Ron and herself. She couldn't blame him, but Ron and Ginny think he has gone a little mad but has he? Hermione fell into an uneasy sleep filled with odd dreams of last year, some were pleasant, but others were disturbing.

* * *

Somewhere deep in a dark chamber, the most feared wizard sat in his chair peering through his red slits for eyes at his most trusted Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy. ( AN: I can't remember whether Lucius escaped or not but for the sake of this story, Lucius, Dolohov, and a couple of others escaped, the rest were sent to Azkaban).

"My lord, my son has told me that Potter is becoming increasingly isolated from his friends," Lucius reported.

"Hmm...this is turning out better than I expected, a pity Bellatrix failed to kill Black though. Very well, we must orchestrate a plan to kill Potter and Black, they will never stray from each other and that could mean trouble for us," Voldemort replied.

"But my lord, surely you don't think that the two of them could be a real threat to us?" Lucius asked.

"Potter and Black bested you and Dolohov in a duel, they are far from pushovers Lucius, and I will not make any mistakes," Voldemort replied harshly.

"Yes my lord, forgive me," Lucius said as he bowed.

"Right, go now, I will summon you soon so be ready," Voldemort replied.

Lucius bowed and slowly turned and exited the chamber, leaving Voldemort alone to his vicious thoughts.

"Very soon Harry Potter, you shall endure horrors beyond anything you could possibly imagine," Voldemort said as his cold laughter rang throughout the dark chamber.

AN: Okay there we are! Please read and review and until next chapter!

**Dragonthunder89**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own it so leave me alone

AN: Hi readers! Here we are at chapter three! I bet some of you are wondering about this but I will assure anyone who is in doubt, this is a Harry/Hermione story. It will just be bumpy for awhile. Anyhow, let us begin!

**Dragonthunder89**

**Fighting Alone**

Harry awoke the next morning to Sirius shaking him like he would a dirty rug.

"Get up sleepy head, get cleaned up and come down for some breakfast," Sirius said.

"Wha? What time is it?" Harry asked.

"About six," Sirius replied as he headed for the door.

Harry groaned but forced himself up, perhaps the whole summer wouldn't be great, the mornings would definitely be horrible. Harry trudged into the bathroom down the hall and turned on the water to the shower. Once he had it to the right temperature he climbed in and washed. Once he got out he smelled the food from the kitchen and his mouth watered, he was hungry that was certain and he hurriedly got dressed and went downstairs. He saw Sirius sitting at the table reading the _Daily Prophet_ and sipping on his coffee. What surprised Harry was that Remus was also sitting there. Both men greeted him as they looked up from their papers.

"Good morning pup," Sirius said.

"Good morning Harry, sleep well?" Remus asked.

"Well the same old nightmares, you get used to them after awhile," Harry replied.

Remus and Sirius smiled apologetically.

"I didn't expect you to be here for the first day of training," Harry said as he took a seat.

"Actually, I only came for breakfast, I have matters to attend to today I'm afraid," Remus replied.

"Oh, too bad," Harry said as he noticed Kreacher bring him a plate of food and some coffee.

Harry felt a little out of place, he was used to cooking his own food, he had to learn or naturally he would've starved. But he thanked Kreacher and after Sirius ran his wand over it, started into it like an animal. After a few minutes of silence, Remus finished his coffee and stood.

"Well, I'm off see you two later," Remus said as he disapparated.

"Well, are you ready for your training regimen Harry?" Sirius asked.

"Let's do it," Harry replied.

Sirius nodded and after clearing the plates of food from the table, they headed for the basement.

"Now, every morning, we will jog on the treadmills for ten minutes for a warm up. Then we will get on the stair climber and climb one hundred stairs. After that, we will do chin ups, do as many as you can do, but you will discover that you will be able to do a lot more the more we train. Then for a final workout, we will do one hundred crunches. This will be the morning routine everyday until it becomes too easy, when that time comes, we will increase the numbers and time," Sirius explained.

"Alright, is that it though?" Harry asked.

"Oh no, the afternoon is for martial arts training, and then we break for a few hours to rest and then in the evenings we practice magic and dueling," Sirius replied.

"Well, it sounds like our summer will be busy," Harry said.

"Indeed, oh I almost forgot! After the morning routine, we run a mile and that distance will increase when it gets too easy," Sirius replied.

Harry groaned but then he smiled inwardly, he and Sirius would stand together side by side on the battlefield. But with that thought came sadness as he thought of Ron and Hermione, they meant everything to him. Harry sighed and joined Sirius as he started the treadmills. Harry got on one and set the speed to an easy jog, no sense in pushing it too hard...yet.

"Harry, I have a cooler of water over in the corner, make sure you drink plenty of it," Sirius said.

"Okay, thanks," Harry replied.

They jogged side by side in silence, lost in their own thoughts.

"Harry, are you going to invite Ron and Hermione over sometime this summer?" Sirius asked.

"Well, with our training, I won't have time," Harry replied.

"Not a problem, maybe on a Sunday, that will be the day you have more free time," Sirius offered.

Harry nodded, it would be at least a month before he would have them over, besides, he had to train and also figure out this new behavior he had whenever he thought about Hermione. Harry and Sirius got off of the treadmills and walked to the cooler and grabbed two bottles of water. Harry took a large gulp before getting on the stair climber. Sirius joined him and they climbed for one hundred stairs. Harry found that this machine was harder than it looked and he could tell by Sirius's face that he was in agreement. Finally after one hundred stairs, they gulped down more water and took a five minute break.

"Okay, let's do our chin ups," Sirius said.

Sirius went first as there was only one chin up bar. Sirius went up and down and Harry was impressed. He counted ten chin ups which was good. They switched places and Sirius was really shocked, Harry did fifteen.

"Merlin pup, you can do fifteen?" Sirius asked when Harry had finished.

"Yeah, but my goal by the end of the summer is to double that," Harry replied.

"Then we will both have the same goal," Sirius said.

The two finished their morning workout with one hundred crunches. Harry knew once he had finished that he was going to be very sore the next day.

"Alright, we will run our mile now, we are going to go to Hogwarts for this though because one lap around the Black Lake is about a mile," Sirius said.

"Great let's do it," Harry replied.

They apparated right outside of the gates and headed for the lake, once there they started to jog around the perimeter of the lake.

"You know, you could do this part when you go back to school, an early run around the lake everyday," Sirius suggested.

"Yeah, maybe Ron or Hermione will join me," Harry replied even though he was doubtful.

Harry jogged next to his godfather deep in thought. He missed his two friends but another thought crossed his mind. He missed Hermione far more than he missed Ron which scared him, why was that? Ron was his best mate so why was Hermione more important? Perhaps it was because he fancied her. He had ever since fourth year, but he knew that Ron also fancied her. So Harry just observed his two friends and felt even more alone this last year as he noticed Hermione seemed to fancy Ron herself so he kept his distance. But after the events of this past year, it seemed that the only person brave enough to be with him was Sirius, Harry didn't blame everyone else, people had a habit of dying around him. But it felt empty, Dumbledore distanced himself from Harry for Harry's protection, or so he thought. The two rounded the opposite shore, marking the halfway point. Harry made up his mind after the battle...to never get too attached to anyone, this would be particularly hard because of his love for Hermione. However, in order to protect her, he had to go it alone, well almost, he had Sirius. They finished their mile in about eight minutes, and stopped to rest.

* * *

Hermione had not slept much, she was haunted by the rift between herself and Harry, he was always closer to her and she loved that she was closer to him than Ron. She could not understand why she was getting on the bandwagon. She needed someone else to talk to about this, and then it clicked, Tonks. Hermione was sitting on her bed in Ginny's room and she immediately got out a piece of parchment and began to write a short letter to the auror.

_Dear Tonks,_

_I am in need of someone to talk to and I require your advice, usually I can make decisions on my own but the situation is very delicate and I don't want to make the wrong choice. When it is most convenient for you, send your reply and meet me on top of the big hill overlooking the Burrow._

_Sincerely,_

_Hermione Granger_

Hermione read over it, and once she was satisfied, she fetched one of the owls and sent it off. Hopefully Tonks could help her, Hermione wanted so badly to see Harry but she couldn't apparate into Grimmauld Place, and she wasn't sure if flooing would work either. Not to mention she wasn't sure if Harry wanted to see her. Hermione got up and headed out of her room and down the hall only to run into Ron.

"Hey I was looking for you, do you want to go to Diagon Alley?" Ron asked.

"What for?" Hermione asked.

"Fred and George just owled me and told me to go there, they said they have a surprise," Ron replied.

"A surprise? What could they possibly be doing in Diagon Alley?" Hermione wondered.

"Only one way to find out," Ron replied.

"Alright, let's go then," Hermione agreed.

They decided to floo their and after stumbling out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, they headed out onto the street which was depressingly empty. Few people were out, and those who were, were in a hurry.

"They said they were down by Flourish and Botts," Ron said as he started down the street.

Hermione followed, and after a time, they came across a large colorful poster.

**Weasley&Weasley **

Next to Flourish and Botts

"No way," Hermione cried.

"What?" Ron asked dumbly.

"Come on," Hermione replied as she quickened her pace.

After a little more walking, Hermione's suspicions were confirmed, they came upon a large colorful shop and the twins walked out to greet them.

"Ron, Hermione! Welcome to Weasley&Weasley!" Fred announced.

"You've opened up your own store?!" Ron demanded.

"Yeah! All of our products and a few new ones, we need to get a hold of Harry too, we have some new inventions for him," George replied.

"How? How did you manage to do this?" Hermione asked.

"Well, shortly before the O.W.L tests, Harry pulled us aside. He said that our products were brilliant and he gave us all of the money that he won from the Tri Wizard Tournament! Isn't Harry the greatest?!" Fred exclaimed.

"Harry did that?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, we don't care what everyone else thinks, we are on Harry's side until the end, especially after he made all of this possible," George replied.

"So that's why you quit school," Hermione said catching on.

"Yeah, and the shop is a huge success!" Fred exclaimed.

Hermione said nothing as she was lost to her thoughts again. Harry was the reason the twins opened their shop? She couldn't believe Harry just gave them all of that money, of course Harry didn't care about money or fame, she knew that better than anyone. Harry wanted desperately to just be normal, but he had no choice and it broke her heart. She couldn't imagine how he managed to keep going, after five years of hell Harry never faltered, always sacrificing and always giving, never expecting anything in return. He saved her life several times and never got anything from her in return and did not expect anything, the same went for Ron, Luna, Neville, Ginny, and Mr. Weasley. He was willing to anything to keep them all safe. Hermione made up her mind, she would talk to Tonks but regardless of what she would say, Hermione was going to stand by Harry like she always had and no one was going to stop her from doing that.

"We'd give you a tour but we are closed today for some additions to the shop, but come by in a couple of weeks and bring Harry along," Fred said.

"Okay, well are you not living at the Burrow anymore?" Ron asked.

"Well, we haven't talked to dad or mum about that yet, but hopefully despite what we did, they will let us stay," George replied.

"They will," Hermione assured.

"Thanks, well, see you two later, we have to get back to work," Fred said.

"See you," Ron replied as they began their trek back to the Burrow.

"Can you believe Harry gave those two all of that money?!" Hermione cried.

"Yeah, what a git, winning my brothers to his side with money," Ron growled.

"That's not why he did it," Hermione replied dangerously.

"Oh yeah?" Ron challenged.

"Yeah, Harry doesn't care about money or fame, he cares more about his friends and seeks to be normal," Hermione replied.

"Why? He's got it all," Ron snorted.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked.

"I mean sure Voldemort is after him but he's bloody rich, everyone knows who he is, and all of that," Ron replied.

"We need to talk to him Ron," Hermione said as she desperately wanted to yell at Ron for what he said.

"Well, when do you want to do it?" Ron asked.

"We need to talk to Sirius," Hermione replied.

"So send him an owl," Ron said.

"Yeah, when we get back I will do just that," Hermione replied.

"I doubt he will agree if Harry doesn't," Ron warned.

"Maybe, but Harry adores Sirius and if anyone can convince Harry, it will be Sirius," Hermione replied.

"What about Dumbledore?" Ron asked.

"Are you mad? Harry is very upset with him, and he should be," Hermione replied.

"Why?" Ron asked dumbly.

"Honestly Ron, Dumbledore avoided Harry all year in hopes to better protect him, but it only endangered him further, and he didn't tell Harry about the prophesy," Hermione replied.

"Oh," Ron replied.

Hermione led the way into the Leaky Cauldron and entered the floo followed closely by Ron. Once they arrived back at the Burrow, Hermione went up to Ginny's room and found an owl with a letter waiting for her. Hermione was anxious as she opened the letter.

_Hermione,_

_I would be happy to talk, I will be there later on tonight so just hang in there until then._

_Sincerely,_

_Tonks_

Hermione crumpled the letter up as Ginny entered the room. Hermione however, got up and went downstairs into the lounge carrying a book. She sat down in her favorite chair and started to read, little did she know, Harry and Sirius were about to be thrust into a vicious battle.

* * *

Harry sat by the edge of the lake next to Sirius and gazed out over the water.

"Will we win this war?" Harry asked suddenly.

"I won't lie to you pup, I do not know, you are old enough to know the truth. It all depends on you, only you can kill him," Sirius replied.

"I will fight him to my last breath," Harry vowed.

"I am very proud of you Harry, and I will stand by you throughout this war but only you can fight Voldemort and have any chance of winning," Sirius replied.

"I will fulfill my purpose, but I don't know if I will be able to kill him," Harry said.

"That is why we are training like this pup, I am going to make sure I have done everything to prepare you. Believe me, if I could walk this path for you I would in a heartbeat, but only you can do it," Sirius replied gently.

"Don't worry, I would rather walk it myself and bear the burden," Harry said.

"You will not bear it alone," Sirius replied as he placed a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Thanks Sirius, I..I've never had any parents and you are like a father to me," Harry said.

"Thank you Harry, I am going to do my best to make everything up to you, I cannot replace James and Lily, but together, we can bring justice down on that snake," Sirius replied.

"Hey, can we go into Hogsmeade while we are here?" Harry asked.

"Sure, what do you want to go there for?" Sirius asked.

"Something to eat, and maybe check out any new Quidditch brooms," Harry replied.

"Just like your father, okay, let's go," Sirius chuckled.

Both rose and began to walk towards Hogsmeade when Harry stopped.

"Wait, you can't go there," Harry realized.

"No, but Padfoot can," Sirius replied grinning.

Harry laughed as they continued on in silence and as they neared, Harry noticed Sirius transform. Padfoot trotted alongside Harry happily which made Harry smile. They entered Hogsmeade and to Harry's relief, no one seemed to pay much heed to the boy and dog. Of course there weren't many people to worry about as Hogsmeade was very quiet. Harry did notice someone who he never wanted to run into, Malfoy. Harry watched Draco walk next to his mother Narcissa as they passed several shops. Draco noticed Harry and veered in his direction.

"Oi Potter! What are you doing here?" Malfoy asked.

"Well, I am hungry and was planning to get something to eat," Harry replied.

"Really? Who's the mutt?" Malfoy sneered.

Padfoot growled in warning which made Malfoy flinch and take a step back.

"Your body guard is it?" Malfoy asked.

"Well, he can serve that purpose, but if you are the one threatening me, I don't need him," Harry retorted.

"Think you are real smart do you Potter?!" Malfoy challenged.

"Well, smarter than your brainless oaf of a father, where is he by the way, oh yes that's right...he's one of Voldemort's pathetic followers," Harry taunted.

"How dare you!" Narcissa cried for the first time.

"Don't talk about my father like that!" Draco yelled.

"Why not? He is pathetic, I could beat him in a dual if I had to," Harry replied.

"You insolent..." Narcissa started but she was cut off.

"Harry!" Hagrid's booming voice called.

"Hagrid!" Harry cried waving as the half giant made his way towards them.

Draco and Narcissa quickly left them cursing under their breath.

"Harry, you know..yeh aren't supposed ter be wanderin around by yerself, Dumbledore would have a fit," Hagrid said.

"No worries, I have Padfoot," Harry replied quietly.

"What? Oh the dog," Hagrid said in realization.

They all stopped dead, the air had become strangely cold, Hagrid looked confused at first, but Harry was searching frantically for the source. Padfoot was also scanning the sky, but they were wrong, Harry guessed that Dementors were attacking, but instead his eyes fell on a large winged creature who walked out of the shadows of a darkened shop and approached them. Harry drew his wand and pointed it at the creature.

"Hello Harry Potter, long time no see," a familiar voice greeted.

"What? I know that voice," Harry replied.

As the winged creature neared his face finally became visible and he smiled at the group, not a pleasant smile. Nor was it friendly, it was a cold smile that held a sadistic quality.

"Viktor Krum," Harry said coldly.

AN: Well there is chapter 3! Leave a review and tell me what you think! Anyway sorry for the slow updates, school will be getting in the way a lot so please be patient with me and thanks. Anyway until next chapter!

**Dragonthunder89**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, just the new plot line.

AN: Hello again readers! I love the reviews I am getting so keep them coming! I will apologize in advance, the updates are going to be slower because of school and because I have to focus on my other story. I haven't updated it for a good week and I will guess my readers are getting upset. But I will get updates for this one out as fast as possible so never fear! Anyway, on with the story!

**Dragonthunder89**

**Fighting Alone**

Harry didn't make a move as he stared Viktor down. What was he doing here? Or better yet, how did he end up looking like that?

"Quite a drastic change since I last saw you," Harry said.

"Yes, well I realized that since the Dark Lord has returned, I had to pick a side," Viktor replied.

"Well it looks like you chose the wrong side," Harry said.

"Time will tell, but I don't think so," Viktor replied.

"Alright, now that the pleasantries are out of the way, what do you want?" Harry asked.

"Oh I was bored so I decided to come and see how powerful you really are," Viktor replied.

"You were bored?" Harry asked skeptically.

"Yeah, ever since the Dark Lord had a vampire turn me, I had been enhanced, my strength was increased, I could sprout wings and fly, but the drawback was that I had a strange thirst for blood. So I preyed upon people around the countryside. Those who did not want to join Voldemort, well... they satisfied my thirst," Viktor replied.

"You are weaker than I thought Krum, you were known as the greatest Seeker in the world, and you had fame and fortune. Why throw it all away?" Harry asked.

"I didn't, the Dark Lord just had me swear my allegiance to him and do his bidding and I kept everything that I had," Viktor replied.

"I see, so what now?" Harry asked.

Viktor folded his wings behind his back neatly and drew his wand.

"Let us see if the great Harry Potter can stand up to a vampire's magic?" Viktor challenged.

Harry drew his and both were now pointing their wands at one another. Harry saw Viktor begin to move to the right, and Harry moved to his right and soon the two wizards were circling each other.

"Oh by the way Potter, I just thought you would like to know...but Hermione and I are...how would you say, involved," Viktor said smirking cruelly.

Harry almost faltered in his stance and he looked back at Viktor with his mouth half open. Hermione and Viktor were dating each other? No way!

"You expect me to believe that?!" Harry demanded trying to hide his fear and anger of the possibility.

"Well, she doesn't know that I am a vampire yet, but yes, she wrote me a very nice letter and we met up and everything took off from there," Viktor explained.

"Once she realized that you chose to side with Voldemort, she would leave you so fast you wouldn't be able to comprehend it," Harry shot back.

"Oh, but once I get her to my bed, it won't matter, once I bite her she will be mine anyway," Viktor replied with a maniacal gleam in his eyes.

Harry boiled with unfathomable rage. Just thinking about Hermione with him angered him and then he imagined her disappearing behind a door to his bedroom and something inside Harry snapped. Sirius had transformed from Padfoot at this point and was staring at Harry in shock. Harry was glowing a fiery red and the air around him crackled. Viktor was surprised by this but did not falter.

"If you lay one finger on her I will break every bone in your body Krum!!" Harry screamed in rage.

"Prove it! Let your fury rage forth Potter and fight me!" Viktor yelled.

It happened in a matter of seconds but Harry barely recalled who fired first. All he knew was at some point he became locked in a struggle with Viktor. Harry had fired a flaming spell that was so powerful that Viktor's curse was getting absorbed and Harry walked towards him pushing. Viktor's eyes widened in fear and after a couple of minutes he broke the connection and dove to the side. Harry's spell hit a nearby shop and the shop was burned to ashes within a matter of a couple of seconds after hitting it. Sirius, who hadn't been noticed, ran to check for a body within the shop's ashes. Luckily the shop was empty.

"This isn't over!" Viktor snarled as he sprouted his wings.

"Accio Firebolt!!" Harry yelled.

Harry's broom came surprisingly fast as he watched Viktor begin to rise in the sky. Harry jumped onto his broom and shot off after Viktor leaving Sirius standing there calling after him.

"Harry no come back!" Sirius yelled.

Sirius noticed that several people were coming out now and Sirius changed back into the shaggy black dog and ran off before he was recognized.

'_You had better not do anything stupid pup' _Sirius thought as he headed in the direction Harry and Viktor had gone.

* * *

Viktor was extremely fast and Harry had a hard time keeping up. But he stayed on him and saw Viktor fire a curse back at Harry. Harry maneuvered around it easily and retaliated with his own curse. Viktor swooped up to avoid it and Harry followed. But as Harry beared down on Viktor, Harry suddenly felt cold...no freezing. He noticed his broom was turning to ice just like in his third year. Harry looked to his left and then his right and finally behind him. Dementors had surrounded him and it seemed that they were allowing Viktor to get away. 

"Damn it! This isn't over Krum!!" Harry yelled as he watched Viktor disappear.

The Dementors circled Harry and began to close in.

"Alright come on then! You want me so bad come and get it!!" Harry challenged, his anger from losing Krum evident.

The Dementors moved closer and stretched out towards Harry with their slimy, cold claws. Harry knew what a Dementor's Kiss felt like and he was not going to experience it again. Harry began to think of Sirius and what it felt like living with him and let the feeling fill him up.

"Expecto Patronum!!" Harry yelled pointing his wand.

The white stag began to charge the Dementors and with Harry whirling his wand over his head, the stag circled Harry, slamming into any that got close. After what seemed an eternity to Harry, the Dementors began to back off and finally left Harry.

"Phew...that was far too close," Harry said.

Harry slowly descended and once he touched the ground, he heard a dog barking somewhere in the distance. Harry smiled, he recognized that bark anywhere and sure enough as it got closer, a shaggy black dog was sprinting towards him. Padfoot transformed into Sirius who sprinted the rest of the way towards his godson.

"Merlin Harry are you alright?!" Sirius demanded.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but Viktor got away," Harry replied.

"Well, all that matters is that you are okay, don't ever do anything like that again!" Sirius scolded.

"I'm sorry Sirius, but I had to follow him, it was a little personal," Harry replied.

"Look, I know, but I still worry about you, and as your godfather it is my job to scold you. But now that, that is out of the way, your magical energy was incredible! How in Merlin's name did you do that?" Sirius asked.

"Do what?" Harry asked.

"You were surrounded by a red aura and the air was crackling with heat," Sirius replied.

"It was?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, you were on fire!" Sirius exclaimed.

"But...I didn't even know I was," Harry said.

"Did what Viktor say about Hermione get to you?" Sirius asked.

"Actually yes...I was furious," Harry admitted with a confused look.

Harry was slightly annoyed as he saw Sirius give him that same knowing smile that he had the night before.

"What are you smiling at?" Harry asked.

"Think real hard about it Harry, you are pretty smart and I think you will connect the dots," Sirius replied.

Before Harry could reply, Sirius grabbed him and apparated them back to Grimmauld Place.

"Normally, we would have eaten and started training by now, but because of what happened I am altering the schedule a bit. Hit the shower and I will make something up to eat and we will continue afterwards," Sirius said.

"Okay, and Sirius?" Harry asked.

"Yes?" Sirius asked.

"I really am glad to be here with you," Harry replied.

"Me too pup, me too," Sirius said as he headed for the kitchen.

* * *

Hermione sat on her bed crying. She had gone through everything in her head and it all lead back to her wanting to be with Harry. She mentally scolded herself for letting Ron lead her along with what he believed. With tear stained eyes she looked out the window and noticed that it was getting dark. Remembering her meeting with Tonks, she proceeded downstairs to the kitchen. Her timing was perfect as Mrs. Weasley was answering the door and Tonks stood there and smiled. 

"Why Tonks, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Molly asked.

"Well, I came to talk to Hermione actually," Tonks replied as she noticed Hermione come down.

"Oh? May I ask what about?" Molly asked.

Hermione's breath caught, this could get ugly if Mrs. Weasley knew what Hermione had said in her letter. But fortunately, Tonks must have understood Hermione's worry and made up a reason.

"Well, I need her story of the battle that took place in the Department of Mysteries to help the investigation of what Voldemort is after," Tonks replied smoothly.

"Oh, well come on in," Molly said.

Hermione felt a wave of relief as Tonks approached her.

"Come on, let's take a walk," Tonks said as the two headed out the back door.

They walked away from the Burrow up to the top of a tall hill and sat down facing each other. Tonks waited patiently and Hermione gathered her thoughts.

"Okay, thanks for coming over here to talk to me," Hermione started off.

"Anytime, so what's wrong?" Tonks asked.

"It's Harry," Hermione replied.

"Isn't he with Sirius now?" Tonks asked.

"Yes, but after what happened this past year, Ron hates Harry and I made the mistake of letting Ron lead me on instead of defending Harry," Hermione replied.

"I'm surprised Hermione, Harry has been through hell, to abandon him now is the greatest betrayal you and Ron have ever committed," Tonks said.

"I know, but I want to make things right between us, Ron doesn't. But I don't know if Harry will want to talk to me after..." Hermione trailed off.

"After what?" Tonks asked.

"After Harry overheard Ron saying Harry was mad and I didn't defend him, at the time I almost agreed with Ron," Hermione admitted.

"Wow, I bet Harry is really hurting, you have to go to him Hermione," Tonks said.

"Yeah, but I can't get there myself, either Sirius or Harry would have to be with me to go there," Hermione replied.

"Well let me see if I cannot get Sirius to come and get you?" Tonks asked.

"Why can't you take me there?" Hermione asked.

"Well I could, but I would still need to contact him to tell him that we are coming," Tonks replied.

"I see your point, well I will do whatever it takes to make things right between Harry and I," Hermione said.

"Good, now I will owl you tomorrow after I get in touch with Sirius," Tonks said.

"Thanks Tonks," Hermione replied as both stood.

"Of course, but be warned, Harry may not be as forgiving, I mean you know him better than I but I know I would not be very forgiving for something like that," Tonks warned.

"Yes, and he is probably hurting more than he lets on too," Hermione added.

Tonks nodded and the two women began to walk back towards the Burrow. They walked in silence until they reached the back door and Tonks stopped Hermione.

"What about Ron?" Tonks asked.

"I don't know, I will try to get him to apologize to Harry but he is too damned stubborn," Hermione replied.

"Okay, well then I will owl you tomorrow, goodnight Hermione," Tonks said.

"Goodnight Tonks," Hermione replied as Tonks turned and walked to the apparition point and disappeared.

* * *

Harry sat on one of the long benches with a twenty pound dumb bell in his right hand and was doing various movements to strengthen his muscles. Sirius walked down a short time later and watched Harry. He was thinking, and the way his eyes were so focused, Sirius guessed Harry was really concerned about something. After Harry picked up another twenty pound weight and began to work out with it, Sirius decided to discover what was bothering his godson. 

"Harry?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah?" Harry asked looking up.

"What's wrong? You seem...bothered," Sirius replied.

"I was just thinking about Ron and Hermione," Harry sighed.

"Oh? What's the matter?" Sirius asked.

"They hurt me Sirius, they hurt me badly this past year, Ron told Hermione that I was mad. Both of them seemed to be distant from me, and I always felt alone, Dumbledore did it too but it only made things worse. I guess I don't blame them, they should stay away from me as I am the most dangerous person to be around, maybe I was wrong, maybe everything is going wrong and I am becoming bad," Harry explained.

He hated the way it sounded, he sounded like a child when he said that, but it was the truth. Before Voldemort returned things were not so bad, of course Harry still had to face unimaginable horrors to prevent his return. But now the horrors increased ten fold and Harry was afraid that Voldemort might try to invade his mind again like he had done at the Ministry. Harry noticed Sirius sit down and grab Harry's shoulders.

"Listen to me Harry, I told you before, you are not a bad person, horrible things have happened. I wish I could take away your pain, but I cannot, I can be your support but you must be strong. I am sure James and Lily are as proud of you as I am, you are extremely powerful Harry, your power exceeds my own and will one day be a match for Dumbledore himself or better," Sirius explained.

"But Sirius, I am going to need everyone's help, but two of my biggest allies and friends are casting me aside and isolating themselves from me," Harry protested.

"Let them, it makes you angry yes?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, angry and hurt," Harry replied.

"Channel that anger into your magical core, once you do that you could be a powerful force that even Voldemort will come to fear," Sirius assured.

Harry looked skeptical but he shook it off and continued to pump the weights, except now he pumped them faster and angrier. All of his pain he was taking out in his training, he knew Sirius was right. But could he do it? Sure he could, he was Harry Potter, the equal to the Dark Lord. But he never felt that way.

"I am just afraid that I won't be able to live up to everyone's expectations," Harry said.

"Harry, you have already exceeded the Death Eater's expectations, and you have developed over the years and have become very powerful. Plus, you are still very young, and your powers are continuing to develop," Sirius replied.

"But all of my experiences were won mostly by sheer luck," Harry said.

"Maybe, but you are a great wizard and with a little bit of luck, maybe you stand a chance against that snake hmm?" Sirius asked.

"Well...I guess," Harry replied hesitantly.

"Good, now, I think that it is time for some martial arts," Sirius said.

Harry put the weights down and jogged over to the cooler and grabbed a bottle of water, which he downed in two gulps.

"Alright, let's go," Harry replied.

For the next two hours, Sirius and Harry trained with various martial arts. Sirius had already had some experience, so he instructed Harry who was surprising ly getting the hang of it at a rapid rate. After they practiced the moves for an extended period of time, Harry got his chance three hours later, to put them into practice by sparring Sirius. Sirius had them put on face guards and pads to avoid serious injury.

"Alright, now attack me," Sirius instructed.

Harry crouched into a fighting stance and Sirius did the same. Sirius was surprised by Harry's speed as he attacked. Harry rushed at Sirius and threw a punch with his right hand, aiming for Sirius's face. Sirius blocked Harry with his left arm and countered with a punch to Harry's face. But Harry was ready for it and ducked under it, only to plant his knee in Sirius's stomach. Sirius stumbled back and both stared each other down.

"You are far more skilled at this than I thought," Sirius complimented.

"Thanks, I had a good teacher," Harry replied.

"Why thank you, but now we get serious," Sirius said.

This time Sirius attacked with a spinning tornado kick that he aimed for Harry's head. Harry ducked under it but was surprised by Sirius's second attack. Sirius back fisted Harry's left cheek. Harry recovered quickly and spun on his left leg and caught Sirius with a powerful sidekick to his chest. They went back and fourth like this for a couple of minutes before Sirius decided to stop for the day.

"Well, that was great, but I say that we call it a day," Sirius suggested.

"Yeah, I'm beat," Harry agreed.

They cleaned up the gym quickly and headed upstairs. Harry decided that although he was exhausted, he wasn't tired yet, so he went into he library and began to browse the shelves. He found several books on the Dark Arts but one in particular caught his eye. Harry grabbed the book and read the cover. '_Powerful, Rare Spells Not Even the Ministry knows'. _Harry was very intrigued by this, so he sat down in one of the comfy chairs and opened it to the first page. Harry started reading and to him it looked like the book was very old, much older than most. Harry became lost in its pages as he was awestruck by some of the spells the book contained, he lost track of the time and realized this when Sirius came into the room.

"Hey Pup, you had better not stay up too late, we have more training coming up tomorrow," Sirius warned before heading to bed. Harry glanced up and nodded before looking at the clock. It was almost one in the morning.

"_What?!" _Harry cried in his head.

Apparently, Harry had been reading for over two hours, he almost smiled at his next thought.

"_Hermione would be proud"_ Harry thought.

His humor was short lived when he remembered what happened between them. Shrugging his shoulders, Harry closed the book, laid it on the table and headed off to bed. As he laid down and closed his eyes, Harry's last thought was Hermione Granger. Harry then fell asleep and was greeted by horrible nightmares.

AN: Well there we are, again I am very sorry for the slow updates but please bear with me, I am going as fast as I am able. Anyway you know the drill, leave a review and until next chapter!

**Dragonthunder89 **


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to J. K. Rowling.

AN: I'm back with another chapter! I appreciate the feedback I am getting, and as always keep it coming! I apologize for the long delay I had...other engagements. Anyway here we go!

Dragonthunder89

Fighting Alone

_It was raining hard and visibility was low but he could see the narrow red slits clearly as they seemed to penetrate the dark. Voldemort stood there taunting him, to his left stood his second in command, Lucius Malfoy. To his right, Viktor Krum, who had his arm wrapped around a familiar face._

_'Hermione?!' Harry cried out in surprise._

_'Surprised Potter?' Viktor asked._

_'Hermione! Don't worry I'll save you!' Harry called out._

_Hermione met his gaze and Harry gasped in shock, her eyes were devoid of life. She smiled but it had no feeling in it._

_'What have you done to her?!' Harry demanded._

_'She's mine now, Potter see?' Viktor replied as he turned Hermione's head to the side and pulled back her hair._

_Harry felt a wave of pain and rage wash over him as he saw the twin holes in her neck where Viktor bit her._

_'NO!!' Harry screamed in rage._

_'Finish him!' Voldemort ordered._

_Voldemort, Lucius, Viktor, and even Hermione pointed their wands at him._

_'Hermione...no,' Harry almost whispered._

_'Avada Kedavra!' all four yelled in unison._

* * *

Harry bolted up in his bed, he was sweating profusely.

"Damn, what in Merlin's name was that? I've never had a dream like that before," Harry said aloud.

Harry looked at his bedside clock, three in the morning. Harry cursed as he knew he was going to be up in a few hours thanks to Sirius's training regimen. Harry rolled over and tried to go back to sleep but the harder he tried, the more awake he felt. Sighing in defeat, Harry got up and went down to the kitchen to get something to drink. To Harry's surprise, Sirius was sitting at the table with a butterbeer in front of him.

"Harry? What are you doing up?" Sirius asked looking up.

"Couldn't sleep, I had another nightmare," Harry replied as he joined Sirius at the table.

"Was it about Voldemort?" Sirius asked concerned.

"Yeah," Harry replied.

" Tell me about it," Sirius said.

"Well, it was dark and it was pouring rain. I was standing opposite of Voldemort, on his left was Lucius, and on his right, Viktor Krum," Harry started.

"You were about to battle them?" Sirius asked.

"I suppose, but Viktor had Hermione and her eyes were lifeless when she looked at me...it seemed so real. But Viktor had bitten her and said she belonged to him which I don't understand. Then I got angry, and all four of them, yes even Hermione raised their wands and sent killing curses at me," Harry finished.

"Wow, are you okay?" Sirius asked, unsure of what to say.

"Well, I have nightmares about Voldemort daily so I am used to this," Harry replied sadly.

"I am so sorry Harry, you deserve much better than this," Sirius said.

"One day perhaps I will have much better, but if I don't live through the battle with Voldemort, I will at least make sure all of you live a better life," Harry replied.

"I will be dead before I watch you die Harry, I won't let you die," Sirius said.

"But Sirius, I have accepted the fact that I might not survive the war, if this is the case, I need you to take care of the others for me," Harry replied.

"Harry... I am very proud of you, you have just shown me how much you have matured at such an early age. Very well, I promise, and I will do my best to keep that promise," Sirius vowed.

Harry nodded and yawned. He felt tired finally.

"Well, we best get to bed because we are going to be up in a couple of hours," Sirius said.

"Yeah, well see you in a few hours," Harry replied yawning again.

Harry trudged up to bed and fell asleep instantly, but he suffered from blinding flashes of green light.

* * *

Sirius woke Harry again and they started out just like the day before. They broke for lunch when the front door opened. Harry and Sirius drew their wands and headed to see who it was.

"Sirius?" came Tonks' voice.

Harry and Sirius sighed in relief and replaced their wands as Tonks appeared.

"Wotcher Harry!" Tonks greeted.

"Hi Tonks, what are you doing here?" Harry asked.

"Well, I need to talk to Sirius actually," Tonks replied.

"Oh I gotcha, I'll be in the gym Sirius," Harry said as he disappeared.

"What's up?" Sirius asked.

"It's Hermione," Tonks replied.

"Is she alright?" Sirius asked with worry.

"Yes, she's fine don't worry, but she's a wreck over what happened between Harry, Ron, and herself," Tonks replied.

"So where do you come in?" Sirius asked.

"Well, she wants to talk to Harry, she can't get here herself so she asked me to bring her and that is why I am here," Tonks replied.

"My hands are tied with that one, you will have to ask Harry, they hurt him bad Tonks and he is suffering even though he doesn't show it," Sirius said sadly.

"Alright, I am going to go talk to him," Tonks replied.

"Tread carefully, that subject is a little touchy," Sirius warned.

"Yeah," Tonks replied as she and Sirius headed for the gym.

* * *

Hermione headed for Ron's room, she knew that what she was about to discuss with him could get ugly. But Hermione's stubborn resolve had returned unlike when she was at Hogwarts where she still suffered from the shock of everything. Hermione knocked on the closed door and heard Ron tell her to come in.

"Oh, hey Hermione, what's up?" Ron asked.

"We need to talk," Hermione replied shutting the door.

"Okay, shoot," Ron said.

"Ron we have to apologize to Harry," Hermione started.

"Are you mad? He should be apologizing to us! He almost got all of us killed!" Ron almost shouted.

"It wasn't his fault Ron! He thought his godfather was in trouble! What would either of us have done in his situation?!" Hermione demanded, her voice rising with each word.

"We would have used our heads and knew it was a trap and contacted the Order!" Ron yelled back.

"If you were so against it why did you go along with it?!" Hermione demanded.

"Because Hermione! Harry is my best mate, excuse me, was my best mate. But he charges blindly into danger like a fool!" Ron yelled back.

"How dare you Ronald Weasley! Harry is the sweetest boy I know and he is anything but stupid! He doesn't charge blindly all of the time! In fact I recall many a time when he walks into life or death situations to save you and me without any hesitation! Plus he isn't shaking in his boots when he does it! No even though he is terrified on the inside he walks bravely on the surface!" Hermione screamed.

"You know it sounds great when you say it like that, but you know what? You forgot a very important element, all of Harry's heroics were won on sheer dumb luck!" Ron yelled back.

"That same luck saved your father's life!!" Hermione screamed angrily.

Ron fell silent, she had a point their but that still did not excuse him for what he did. In fact, Harry almost jeopardized his chances of defeating Voldemort that night.

"I know Hermione and I am grateful, but that does not excuse him," Ron replied.

"Really? Well neither you or I have a right to judge him! Harry is dealing with horrible tortures that we can't fathom! On top of that, Dumbledore, the Order, and everyone else has kept him in the dark about the war, even though he is the best hope! So it shouldn't be a surprise if he makes mistakes, nobody is perfect!" Hermione shouted.

"What is with all of the screaming you two?!" Molly demanded walking into the room.

"Ron is being a git!" Hermione cried as she stormed out of the room.

"Ronald Weasley what did you do to her?" Molly demanded.

"She wants me to apologize to Harry mum, but I refuse to apologize to him! He should be apologizing to us!" Ron cried.

"What in Merlin's name for? Harry may have acted foolish, but everyone is okay, so I don't see why you insist on keeping a grudge against your best friend," Molly replied.

Without saying anything else, Molly left Ron to ponder what she had said and to check on Hermione. But she wouldn't get far since Hermione locked herself in her room, or Ginny's room to be more precise.

"Hermione dear, may I come in?" Molly asked.

"Please Mrs. Weasley, I just need some alone time," Hermione sobbed.

"Alright dear, I will be back in a bit to check on you and maybe we can talk," Molly replied as she left.

* * *

Sirius led Tonks to the basement all the while Tonks talked about how impressive his contraption to get to the basement was. When they entered, they found Harry lifting two dumbbells with a quick and difficult pace.

"Harry? Can I talk to you?" Tonks asked.

Harry turned towards them and after setting the weights down, he grabbed a towel and approached them.

"What's up?" Harry asked while mopping the sweat from his face.

"Listen, Hermione called on me and told me what happened between the two of you. She wants to see you, and talk to you," Tonks said.

Harry's expression became stony and unreadable. Sirius and Tonks became worried after Harry didn't say anything for several minutes.

"Harry?" Tonks asked.

"Quite a one eighty from when I talked to her last," Harry said icily.

Sirius and Tonks were shocked, never before had they ever heard Harry speak in a tone that was so...cold.

"She feels terrible and is worrying herself sick about it," Tonks replied.

"Oh is she? Does she expect me to welcome her with open arms after the way she and Ron treated me?" Harry asked with a hint of anger.

"Harry, she was still in a minor state of shock after the battle, she wasn't quite herself," Tonks defended.

"Oh I see, so that excuses her?" Harry asked, his voice rising.

"Well no, but she wants to make things right between you guys," Tonks replied.

"What? Does Ron feel the same way?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, Hermione said she would try to get him to apologize," Tonks replied.

"Well, tell him to save it and that when he does apologize it better be a pretty damn good apology," Harry said fiercely.

"Harry, aren't you being a little harsh?" Tonks asked.

Tonks instantly regretted asking as she saw Harry's face twist in anger.

"Uh, oh bad move cuz," Sirius warned.

"Do you have any idea what those two did to me?!" Harry demanded.

"Duck and cover," Sirius replied as he took a step back.

"Everyone abandoned me this past year, everyone! Only one person was in my corner at all times and he is standing next to you! My two best friends, whom I trust with my life said that I was mad! They only added insult to injury, you don't think I know that I almost got six of my friends killed?! If I hadn't seen her, Bellatrix would have killed Sirius too! Dumbledore did what he thought was best by distancing himself from me, Snape tortured me brutally during my Occulmency lessons, and because of that bastard Fudge and the _Daily Prophet_, everyone at school stayed away from me. Then Umbridge had it in for me and tortured me with a blood pen, and then...she tortured me by way of the Cruciatus Curse. Finally to top it all off, Voldemort invaded my mind and I never slept. I was kept in the dark over the summer, and since I had been given virtually no information, I made a decision that turned into a disaster!" Harry finished shouting.

"Please calm down Harry," Tonks started.

"I am sorry Tonks, tell Hermione that I will talk to her when we meet at King's Cross in a couple months," Harry replied.

"But Harry!" Tonks cried.

"I told you, they hurt me badly, they abandoned me when I needed them the most, plus I need to focus on my training. When I see them next term, we will talk then, maybe they can figure out a way to earn back my trust then," Harry replied.

Harry turned and picked up his weights and resumed his routine as Tonks stood at a loss. Sirius put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"Harry, I won't push the matter any further, but I advise you to at least think about talking to Hermione, when I tell her how this meeting went she is going to go crazy," Tonks said.

"I understand Tonks, do not misunderstand me however, I am very angry with them, but I don't hate them, Hermione will have to be satisfied with that for now, she and Ron will now realize what they have done hopefully and I will not let them forget it," Harry replied.

"I understand Harry, well I won't bother you any longer I will be back later to check up on you guys," Tonks said.

"Take care," Harry replied.

"Good luck cousin," Sirius said.

After Tonks left, Sirius joined Harry and they resumed their routine.

_'This is going to be a long summer' _Sirius thought.

* * *

Voldemort paced in his dark chamber furiously while Lucius and Bellatrix stood watching him nervously.

"Damn that boy!" Voldemort raged.

Lucius flinched and Bellatrix shifted her feet uneasily, both were very scared that they would be punished for their failure.

"I shouldn't have underestimated them, because now the prophecy is gone and it's all your fault Lucius! You and Black! If it hadn't been for you, I would know the prophesy and would be able to make plans to kill the boy!" Voldemort raged.

"My lord please forgive me, I was caught by surprise," Lucius pleaded.

"Silence! That blasted old man Dumbledore had to intervene as well which shot my plans to hell. Lucius I have a backup plan which is lucky for you as it involves your son," Voldemort replied.

"What do you wish of him my lord?" Lucius asked.

"You can redeem yourself through your son, because as he is a student at Hogwarts he will be our inside man, and I have a very important mission for him," Voldemort replied as a cold smile appeared on his face.

"What is that my lord?" Lucius asked.

"Kill Albus Dumbledore," Voldemort replied.

"But my lord, how is my son going to do that?! Dumbledore is far more powerful than Draco," Lucius asked.

"Ah you see Lucius, you would be correct if Draco faced him at full strength, however my informant has given us some very valuable information. Dumbledore is leaving the school for a large portion of the summer holidays on some unknown business. This will open an opportunity for our inside man to prepare several ploys in cooperation with Snape," Voldemort explained.

"What kind of ploys?" Lucius asked curiously.

"Never you mind, I will summon you when it is time to reveal my brilliant plan, if we can get rid of Dumbledore it would strike a crushing blow to the boy and those allied with him," Voldemort replied.

"Very well my lord," Lucius bowed as he left the dark chamber.

"Just wait until your next term Harry Potter, for it will be a school year to remember and if I am lucky, you will not survive it!" Voldemort laughed.

AN: Again so sorry for the delay, this chapter wasn't the greatest and I promise the next one will be better so bear with me. Anyway please review and until next time!

Dragonthunder89


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, blah blah blah...just don't sue, I am poor and you won't get anything lol.

AN: I am sorry that this took so long, but I am still writing and although the updates have been slow. I will have a little more time on my hands coming up so I hope to update sooner. But anyway, here's chapter 6!

Dragonthunder89

Fighting Alone

Hermione sat on her bed holding a picture of Harry. This picture was taken shortly after the first task of the Tri Wizard Tournament. Hermione was able to see Harry's wounds that the horntail had inflicted and she cringed, although Harry said he was fine, she knew that he was in pain. But then, that was the way Harry was, he never showed that he was hurting because he never wanted others to worry about him. Hermione smiled, her Harry. But with that thought came the question she was dying to know the answer to. Had Tonks been successful? Her question would soon be answered as she heard a knock on the door of the Burrow. She heard Molly answer and recognized the voice of Tonks and immediately started for the kitchen. She ran into Ron on her way down.

"Hermione? Where are you going?" Ron asked.

"Tonks is here," Hermione replied not slowing.

"What is she doing here?" Ron asked falling in step beside her.

"I don't know," Hermione lied.

The two entered the kitchen and found Tonks talking with Molly, Arthur was at the Ministry.

"Oh here she is, Hermione dear, Tonks would like to talk to you for a minute," Molly said.

"Oh, okay," Hermione replied sounding curious.

"Come on Ron, Tonks needs to talk to Hermione alone for some reason," Molly said as she pulled Ron out of the room.

Once they were alone, Hermione turned on Tonks expectantly and hopeful. Tonks hesitated because she knew that the hopeful look in her eyes would soon turn to pain and sadness.

"So, what did he say?" Hermione asked.

"Come on, let's take a walk so we can avoid eavesdroppers," Tonks suggested.

The two women left the Burrow and walked up to the tallest hill nearby, Hermione loved going up there, because it was Harry's favorite spot.

"So what did he say Tonks?" Hermione asked impatiently.

"Well, Hermione when I talked to him, he was still very angry and how shall I say, cold. I told him everything you said and he seemed to understand, but..." Tonks started.

"But what?" Hermione asked as hope turned to fear.

"You two hurt him badly, even more than we originally thought. He feels betrayed and is very bitter toward you guys. He refused to see you guys Hermione, I told him to at least consider it, but he told me he would not see you or talk to you until the next term starts, he said that he wants you to understand that he is very angry with you, but he doesn't hate you. I do understand his behavior though Hermione, after all, he told what he had to go through and you guys abandoned him," Tonks finished.

Hermione felt like she had been struck and tears began to flow freely as she sobbed.

"I'm sorry Hermione," Tonks said as she embraced the crying girl.

"But I have to talk to him! He needs to know how I feel!" Hermione cried.

"There is nothing more that I can do," Tonks replied gently.

Hermione lowered her head in defeat and nodded in understanding. Tonks, sensing there was nothing more she could do for the young witch, she turned to leave.

"Tonks wait," Hermione spoke.

"Yes?" Tonks asked.

"Do you think Harry will ever forgive me?" Hermione asked.

"Give him time, I think he will come around," Tonks replied optimistically.

Hermione nodded and Tonks began to walk away toward the apparition point. Hermione didn't move as she watched Tonks reach her destination and disapparate.

"What in Merlin's name have I done?" Hermione cried as she sank to her knees and continued to cry.

* * *

Harry sat in the library with Sirius sorting through the books that were kept there. They had three different piles of books. One for keeping, one for throwing out, and one that needed closer inspection. Harry was very curious about some of the books and wondered how Sirius had gotten a hold of them. But he pushed that thought aside when they heard the front door to Grimmauld Place open. Harry nodded at Sirius and both drew their wands. But they sighed in relief as they heard the voice of Tonks calling their names.

"Probably here to tell me how well Hermione took the news," Harry sighed.

"In here!" Sirius called.

Tonks entered the library and a look of surprise crossed the young auror's face.

"Sirius? Are you reading?" Tonks asked in a fake shocked voice.

"Not really, we are actually sorting them right now," Sirius replied ignoring her teasing.

"Oh, well I came by to tell you Harry that Hermione was not happy," Tonks said.

"Didn't expect her to be," Harry replied without looking up.

"Harry, how can you be so cold? Hermione would follow you anywhere," Tonks asked.

"Listen it is very hard for me too believe it or not, but they need to feel the full effects of what they have done because then it won't be repeated," Harry explained.

"I guess you have a point there," Sirius agreed.

"What about owling her?" Tonks asked.

"Okay, fine, she can owl me, but I may not respond," Harry sighed.

"I guess that's better than nothing at all, well okay then I will let you boys go back to your sorting," Tonks said as she left.

"Harry, I want you to understand that even though we have this training regimen does not mean that you can't have some fun too, I mean what is that saying? All work and no play makes Harry a dull boy," Sirius said.

"I know Sirius but Voldemort will not let me have any advantage if he can help it in the future, so for now I will use this temporary time of peace for training," Harry replied.

"Very well, oh by the way Harry, I managed to gather some weapons that we can use to train with,"Sirius said.

"Really? What kind of weapons?" Harry asked.

"Well you'll see tomorrow, but for now let's get through as many of these books as possible," Sirius replied.

"Agreed," Harry said as both continued examining books.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office over his pensieve, going over the events of the past year. He was about to brood over another memory when his door opened and in stepped McGonagall.

"Why Minerva, good evening," Dumbledore greeted.

"Good evening Albus, have you informed Sirius yet?" McGonagall asked.

"No, he and Harry have been quite busy training, but I am afraid we cannot put it off any longer," Dumbledore replied.

"So when are you calling the meeting?" McGonagall asked.

"Tonight actually, the Order of the Phoenix is going to be very busy, and so will Sirius and Harry," Dumbledore replied.

"Shall I send word to the other Order members?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, we shall meet at Grimmauld in a couple of hours, that will give Sirius and Harry some notice so we don't just show up," Dumbledore replied.

"I shall see to it," McGonagall said as she turned to leave.

"Minerva," Dumbledore called.

"Yes?" McGonagall asked turning.

"I am afraid that Harry cannot be kept in the dark any longer, this last year showed me that he will be in even more danger if we keep him in the dark," Dumbledore replied.

"But Albus, he is still just a boy," McGonagall protested.

"Yes, and he will be able to act and function as such, but we will not keep things from him and tonight I will officially swear him into the Order of the Phoenix," Dumbledore replied.

"Are you sure Albus?" McGonagall asked.

"I am certain that Harry would want it more than anything, he is also a powerful wizard, and though he has little experience, he is very smart and even more resourceful," Dumbledore finished with a smile.

"I suppose you're right," McGonagall agreed.

"Good, send word to the Order members and we will convene at Grimmauld Place," Dumbledore replied.

Dumbledore then went to his fireplace and tossed some floo into it.

"Grimmauld Place!" Dumbledore called and he vanished in a flash of green flames.

* * *

Harry was getting really bored, he chuckled slightly at the thought of Hermione, she would be having the time of her life. Harry had sorted through over a hundred books by now and he glanced around the library and groaned. They had not even made a dent, but Harry was torn from his thoughts as he heard a familiar noise coming from the fireplace.

"Someone is here," Harry said to Sirius.

Both men made their way to the living room area and were shocked to see Albus Dumbledore standing there brushing off his robes.

"Albus? What a pleasant surprise!" Sirius greeted.

"Hello Sirius, hello Harry," Dumbledore greeted.

"Headmaster, it's good to see you, would you care for anything to drink?" Harry asked.

"Thank you Harry, but hold off on that for now, I have come to inform you that we have urgent business and we are convening the Order here in less than two hours," Dumbledore replied.

"What? Well that is short notice," Sirius said surprised.

"Yes, I apologize, but it is a very important night and we cannot put it off any longer," Dumbledore replied.

"Well, if you want you can call them all in now," Sirius offered.

"No that won't be necessary, because tonight is a very special night for Harry," Dumbledore smiled.

"What?" Harry asked, clearly confused.

Before Dumbledore could answer, the floo flashed again and Remus and Tonks came through and a minute later Kingsley.

"What is this all about?" Harry asked.

"Harry, I was wrong last year and I hope you can forgive me, on that note Harry we came early because we want to induct you into the Order of the Phoenix," Dumbledore announced.

Harry was stunned and didn't speak right away. Was this a joke or was Dumbledore really letting him join? Sirius on the other hand was ecstatic.

"Merlin's beard! My godson is joining the Order!" Sirius cried.

"Is this for real?" Harry asked.

"Yes my dear boy it is," Dumbledore chuckled.

"I am so proud of you cub," Sirius replied.

"As are we," Remus added.

"Very well, Harry James Potter you are henceforth known as a member of the Order of the Phoenix and will actively take up the fight against the Dark Lord known as Voldemort, do you take this honorable oath?" Dumbledore asked ceremoniously.

"I do," Harry replied firmly.

"Excellent, welcome to the Order," Dumbledore said as he chanted several incantations and performed even more complicated wand movements.

Harry didn't feel anything, but he saw a bright blue phoenix appear and rush at him. The phoenix rushed into Harry making him glow a bright blue briefly before returning to normal.

"Headmaster, what did you just do to me?" Harry asked.

"I simply put a charm on you that if anyone were to question you, however unlikely that would be, all they have to do is perform a simple test to see if you carry the blue phoenix, which of course is the symbol for the Order of the Phoenix," Dumbledore explained.

Sirius looked at the time and realized they had spent most of the two hours inducting Harry and having small talk.

"The other members will be arriving shortly, shall we get a round of butterbeers?" Sirius asked.

"Yes thank you, we won't need to many," Dumbledore replied.

Shortly thereafter, other members arrived. They included Arthur and Molly Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George, Snape, Moody and McGonagall.

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice," Dumbledore said.

"You said it was very urgent Albus is something wrong?" Arthur asked.

"Well, not yet, but before we get down to business I have an announcement to make. Harry Potter is now a member of the Order of the Phoenix," Dumbledore announced.

There was instant uproar as Molly, and Snape began to protest. Arthur was trying to calm his wife while Sirius, Remus and Snape argued fiercely with Tonks supporting Remus on occasion.

"Silence!" Dumbledore yelled.

The room became silent instantly as all eyes turned towards Dumbledore.

"I made this decision because of what happened last year, the less Harry is informed about, the more dangerous it is for him and the rest of us," Dumbledore explained.

Molly looked as if she wanted to argue but Dumbledore gave her a stern look and she reluctantly backed off. Moody who had stayed quiet throughout the entire ordeal, stood up and spoke.

"I agree with Albus on this, constant vigilance!" Moody exclaimed.

"Sir if I may, I don't think that it is a good idea to induct Mr. Potter into the Order, based on his previous actions, he almost got several people killed," Snape said.

"Ah but you see Severus, it was because Harry had virtually no information that he was tricked into the ruse and acted on it because of his noble nature to protect his godfather," Dumbledore countered.

"Besides, Harry is as powerful as anyone here, save for Albus the only thing he lacks is experience, and with mine, Tonks, and Sirius's help he will slowly gain that," Remus added.

"With grueling training," Sirius said.

"But Harry is just a boy!" Molly cried.

"Molly please..." Arthur started.

However, Mrs. Weasley was not to be stopped this time.

"He isn't ready to handle what lies ahead!" Molly argued.

"Ah but you see none of us are either, not even I know what will happen or what Voldemort is planning," Dumbledore replied.

Mrs. Weasley stopped and reluctantly sat down which prompted Dumbledore to continue.

"Now, Remus what have you to report?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry turned his attention to Remus and noticed for the first time that Remus looked terrible and now wondered why he was in such a state. His clothes were tattered and ripped in several places and he was deathly pale with dark circles under his eyes that hinted he hadn't slept very much.

"First I want to apologize for my appearance, but we just had a full moon recently," Remus said.

"Take your time," Dumbledore replied kindly.

"But, in that short time I managed to gather from another werewolf that Fenrir Greyback is planning something, and that he is going to act on it very soon, what this plan is I sadly do not know but one thing is for certain. Whatever it is this werewolf was very secretive of it and he got suspicious of me and we fought," Remus said.

"I assume you managed to get away?" Dumbledore asked with concern.

"Yes, but I ended up killing him," Remus replied ashamed.

Harry noticed Tonks lace her fingers in his and rub his shoulder with the other hand. She saw Harry looking and she unlaced her fingers, trying to pretend nothing happened.

"I later found out that the werewolf I killed was a spy for Fenrir and he was trying to gather information himself," Remus continued.

"So Greyback is active in the campaign against us," Dumbledore replied.

"Correct, I am willing to continue my investigation Albus, I just need to avoid taking the potion and live among them for awhile," Remus offered.

"My dear friend, I could not ask you to do that, I would only agree if you were sure," Dumbledore replied.

"I am sure, the Order and Harry are going to need every advantage they can get, I will be okay," Remus said.

"Very well, I wish you luck," Dumbledore replied.

Harry caught Tonks's expression briefly before she hid it away. She was clearly, and terribly upset.

"Very well then, Arthur have you made any progress in your mission?" Dumbledore asked.

"None, the Ministry is slaughtering Harry in the _Daily Prophet_ and I cannot convince Cornelius to take appropriate measures to prepare," Arthur replied.

"Unfortunate, but not unexpected, I am afraid Harry, that I have a mission for you come next year," Dumbledore said.

"What is that sir?" Harry asked.

"I want you to tail young Draco, his father escaped from the battle last year and I can only surmise that Lucius has passed the Death Eater tradition onto the young boy, there is one other thing Harry, you must not involve Mr, Weasley or miss Granger next year in your mission. If Draco discovers what you are up to, we may never uncover what they are planning, do you understand?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well, I suppose, but they are with me all the time, Ron and I are at odds so he won't be a problem, but Hermione will never leave my side. She is brilliant and it never takes her long to discover what is going on," Harry said.

"Hmm, perhaps having those two help you would benefit, very well, they may be involved, but do not act rashly if you uncover something, you will report immediately to either Minerva or myself," Dumbledore ordered.

"Yes sir, you can count on me," Harry replied.

"Very good, oh look we are out of time, good luck to Remus, Arthur, and Harry and remember that we can do this if we stick together," Dumbledore said as they broke and everyone went their separate ways.

AN: Well there we go! Sorry for the slow update but I am still truckin! So please leave a review and until next chapter!

Dragonthunder89


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, you probably figured that out by now.

AN: Greetings, here we are with chapter 7. I want to warn you that the summer is going to pick up just a bit, not much but a little. Anyway hope you are enjoying this, I have gotten several good reviews so thank you and keep them coming! Now on with chapter 7!

Dragonthunder89

Fighting Alone

Harry was awoken by Sirius the next morning as usual. He cleaned up and made his way downstairs where Sirius sat reading the paper with his coffee in front of him.

"Well, like clockwork huh?" Harry joked.

"Not today, you will be training alone, I have a task that Dumbledore assigned me today," Sirius replied.

"What? What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"I am going with Dumbledore to the ministry, we are going to talk to Fudge and try to convince him to clear my name," Sirius replied.

"But do you think it will work?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore is pretty confident, I guess he took several Auror's memories of the battle in the Department of Mysteries which is more than enough evidence," Sirius explained.

"Okay, I wish you luck and I hope it goes well," Harry said.

"Thanks pup, well, I am off now, good luck with the training," Sirius replied as he went to the floo and disappeared.

Harry sighed and served himself breakfast and after cleaning the dishes, Harry grabbed water bottles and headed for the basement. He threw them into the large cooler and used his wand to chill the cooler. Harry scanned the room and saw that one wall was now lined with a large assortment of melee weapons. Harry looked them over and after a few minutes, he decided to start simple and pulled a sword off the rack. Immediately, several dummies appeared around the room, all were holding similar wooden swords. Harry noticed the sword was light weight and he was able to swing it fairly efficiently. Harry practiced with several different weapons all day long. He heard the floo and decided to take a break. Harry walked upstairs and found Sirius brushing off his robes, but he was grinning from ear to ear.

"So?" Harry asked hopefully.

"I'm a free man Harry!" Sirius cried.

Harry broke into a broad smile and embraced his godfather as they practically danced around the room. Finally, Harry felt as though at least one thing was going in their favor, but unfortunately, there was much more work to be done. They celebrated the rest of the day and late into the night, mostly because Remus and Tonks had got wind of it and came to offer congratulations. They took a day off the next day, but instead of training, they were remodeling. Harry hardly noticed as the weeks went by, it was the same thing everyday and one day after several weeks, it was then that Harry looked in the mirror and noticed the change. He still looked the same, but his body was incredibly built. Not overly muscular, but anyone who had not seen him for awhile, would definitely notice Harry was very muscular and extremely toned.

What Harry didn't realize, was that Tonks was training with Hermione who requested the Auror's help. Hermione was exercising everyday. Her training was not as harsh as Harry's but it was doing wonders for her. She now was skilled in dueling as she began to beat Tonks more often then Tonks beat Hermione. Ron was the complete opposite and trained hardly at all. He practiced with Hermione maybe once a week for an hour but the rest was his fun time whether it be quidditch or chess.

"Wow Hermione, you have progressed well," Tonks complimented.

"Really? I just hope Harry will be impressed, I know he is training ten times harder than I am but at least with your help I will be more useful," Hermione replied.

"Hermione, I want to tell you a secret, sit down," Tonks said.

"What is it Tonks?" Hermione replied.

"You have to promise that you will not say anything," Tonks warned.

"Of course," Hermione replied.

"Harry told me, that believe it or not, he doesn't like what he is doing to you, but he feels that you need to understand his pain," Tonks said.

"I..what do I have to do?" Hermione asked on the verge of tears.

"Nothing, just be yourself Hermione, that is what he wants," Tonks replied.

* * *

Harry was lifting weights one day when Sirius came down with a letter in his hand.

"Your Hogwarts letter has arrived," Sirius said.

"Oh? Same time at the platform as usual?" Harry asked.

"Yes, and shockingly, we have two weeks, you need new robes, books, and other supplies," Sirius replied.

"Wow Sirius, you sound like Hermione," Harry chuckled.

"Yeah sod off, now we will get your supplies at the end of the week and then your last week here you will rest," Sirius replied.

"But Sirius..." Harry protested.

"Physically, maybe you can read ahead or practice some new spells?" Sirius suggested.

"Good idea," Harry agreed.

The two weeks flew by too quickly for Harry, he had been preparing to face his friends on the train. The morning finally came, and Harry was nervous at seeing his friends again. Although Hermione sent him a few owls, he never wrote back and had no contact with either of them. Sirius noticed Harry's change in behavior and assured him on several occasions that everything would work out. Sirius went with Harry to the train station, they remained off to the side as they watched unnoticed. Harry saw the Weasleys and Hermione arrive and Harry's jaw almost hit the ground. Hermione was beautiful, well...Harry realized she was always beautiful but today was totally different. She had been training, not as much as Harry but she had toned her body well, and her curves were perfect and those lovely...

_'Woah! Focus, you can't be thinking like that right now!' _Harry scolded himself.

Sirius bade Harry goodbye, and Harry decided to make his presence known. Harry approached the group of Weasleys who for the moment remained unaware.

"I hope Harry will see us," Hermione said.

"Don't worry Hermione, I'm sure Harry will see you guys," Arthur assured.

"I wonder where he is?" Hermione asked.

"Closer than you think," Harry replied walking up to them.

All heads turned and Harry almost laughed as he read several reactions from everybody. Arthur seemed calm if a little surprised, Molly was enveloping him in a bone crushing hug, and when he pulled away from her, he looked to the younger audience. Ron stood with his mouth open and eyes wide in shock, Ginny had a similar look that he saw when he met her his second year, and Hermione...well her reaction was difficult. She was shocked, but there was something else Harry could not quite put his finger on. But Hermione recovered and crashed into him with one of her hugs.

_'I love her hugs'_ Harry thought.

"Harry! Merlin I missed you we have to talk," Hermione said as tears stained her cheeks.

"Yes, but we need to get on the train first," Harry replied as she released him.

"Oh yeah we don't want to be late!" Hermione exclaimed blushing.

The group said goodbye to the Weasleys and boarded the train. To Hermione's relief, Harry indeed did join them in one of the compartments. Hermione finally was able to look at Harry properly, she had always admired his build before, but because of his intense training, Harry was no longer very scrawny, in fact he had packed on a lot of muscle and it did not stand out bulging because of all the toning he did. Neville and Luna soon joined them as the train departed for Hogwarts.

"Bloody hell Harry look at you! You're a beast!" Neville cried.

"Well thank you Neville, but not a beast, just did a lot of training this past summer with Sirius. Oh and did you guys hear? Sirius was cleared of everything thanks to Dumbledore," Harry replied.

Everyone offered congratulations but Harry noticed Hermione was watching him and he knew what she wanted.

"Listen, Ginny, Neville, Luna, could I talk to Ron and Hermione alone for a minute?" Harry asked.

"Sure," Neville replied as the three got up and left the compartment.

"Okay Hermione, let's talk," Harry said.

"Oh Harry, I am so sorry for what happened I was going mad all summer because of it!" Hermione burst out.

"I still can't believe you are apologizing to the one who almost got you killed," Ron said.

"Well, I see you haven't changed," Harry replied crossing his arms.

'What is that supposed to mean?" Ron demanded dangerously.

"Take it however you will," Harry replied coolly.

"Who do you think you are?!" Ron demanded rising from his seat.

"Sit down Ron, I don't want to fight with you anymore," Harry said.

"Answer me first Harry!" Ron yelled.

"Well Ron I am Harry Potter, your best friend," Harry replied.

"Think you're funny do you?" Ron challenged clenching his fist.

"Ron stop it right now!" Hermione ordered.

"Listen, I said we could talk, but all Ron wants to do is fight, it seems you still have some things to sort out so until you two do that, I am afraid we will have to finish this talk later," Harry said as he made to leave.

"Wait Harry!" Hermione cried.

"Like I said, get things sorted out first, then we can talk, oh and Ron I might want to try being considerate," Harry said as he left.

"That bastard is so full of himself!" Ron raged.

"Damn it Ron what is the matter with you?! Harry's behavior toward us was far better than even I expected, why did you have to go and be an arse?!" Hermione demanded.

"Me?! What did I do?! He was coming in here acting all high and mighty and thinking he was better than us!" Ron accused.

"No Ron, he has changed but I am guessing that it is partly because of all of his training. I mean he's right, you haven't changed a bit and you didn't train at all this past summer!" Hermione defended.

While Ron and Hermione had it out, Harry ventured to another compartment that was empty. It suddenly occurred to Harry that he had not seen or heard from Malfoy yet which is strange. Harry decided to get started on Dumbledore's task right now. He got up and was about to backtrack when he saw Malfoy in between corridors with Crabbe and Goyle. Harry moved closer to see what they were doing and then his eyes fell upon a familiar face, Colin Creavey.

"Well Creavey, or should I say cretin, I know you love Potter and worship him, so here is what you are going to do..." Malfoy started.

"Well, what is going on back here?" Harry asked.

"None of your business Potter, why don't you clear out and mind your own business?" Malfoy snapped.

"Well it looks like a fellow Gryffindor is being bullied by a coward whose only tough with his cronies around," Harry replied coolly.

"What if we are bullying him? You going to do something about it?" Malfoy challenged as Colin was temporarily forgotten.

"Well I am more than capable, but I don't want to, so as long as you leave him alone and stop plotting against me, I think we will be okay," Harry replied.

"Bad luck Potter, no one talks to me that way and gets away with it, boys I think it's time to show him why," Malfoy sneered.

"Colin," Harry called.

"What Harry?" Colin asked in a frightened voice.

"It looks like I can't reason with them, so you had better get out of here," Harry ordered.

Colin nodded and ran back up the corridor as Harry turned back to Malfoy.

"So, now that this matter has been resolved, I will say goodbye," Harry said.

"Don't turn your back on me Potter!" Malfoy snarled.

Crabbe moved behind Harry blocking his path and Harry sighed, he was getting impatient.

"Listen Malfoy, this past summer I have been getting really good at controlling my temper, but you are testing my patience," Harry said.

"Now we will introduce you into the world of pain," Malfoy replied.

Goyle moved forward and grabbed a fistful of Harry's shirt and pulled back his right fist, ready to strike Harry. Harry responded by latching onto the pressure point in Goyle's hand and twisting his hand, freeing Harry. Goyle yelled in pain and was forced to his knees. Before he could do anything else, Harry drove his knee into Goyle's face, breaking his nose. Goyle fell onto his back clutching his nose. Harry saw Crabbe attack from the corner of his eye and slammed his elbow into Crabbe's gut. Crabbe hunched over in pain and Harry finished by turning and slamming his elbow into the back of Crabbe's neck, knocking him unconscious. Harry turned back to Malfoy who was frozen with shock.

"I warned you, I didn't want to do that," Harry said as he turned and left Malfoy.

Harry went to find Colin to see what it was Malfoy wanted from him. He found him soon enough, he apparently had gone to Ron and Hermione who were both heading his way already.

"Harry!" Hermione cried as she ran to him.

"Hey," Harry replied.

"Colin told us about Malfoy, are you okay?" Hermione asked checking him for injury.

"Yes, but I can't say the same for Crabbe and Goyle," Harry replied.

"What? Harry you didn't..." Hermione started but soon saw Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy hobbling past them up the train.

"You'll pay for this Potter," Malfoy snarled.

"Bloody hell," Ron said.

"They wouldn't let me leave, so I had no choice," Harry explained.

"Harry, you are probably going to get into trouble," Hermione replied.

"I suppose, but that isn't important right now. Colin? I need you to tell me what Malfoy wanted from you?" Harry said as he leaned down to address the younger boy.

"Okay, well before you intervened, they cornered me because they knew I was a fan of yours. They threatened me and said if I didn't do as they said they would hurt me. But anyway they ordered me to talk to you and discreetly gather information on professor Dumbledore," Colin explained.

"What?" Hermione asked confused.

"What did he want to know about Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

"Really strange things like his most frequent visiting spots and things like that," Colin replied.

"Okay, thanks Colin, are you alright?" Harry asked.

"Fine thanks to you," Colin replied.

"Okay, run along now," Harry said.

"I wonder what Malfoy is up to?" Ron asked.

"Come on, I have something to tell you guys," Harry replied.

They entered an empty compartment and sat down and Harry began to speak.

"Okay, last summer Dumbledore inducted me into the Order of the Phoenix," Harry began.

"Harry that's wonderful!" Hermione cheered.

"Bloody hell, that is not fair," Ron grumbled.

"Mrs. Weasley had a fit and Snape was not fond of it either, but anyway, I already have my first mission," Harry continued.

"Really? What is it?" Hermione asked curiously.

"I have to tail Malfoy this year, and I now see why," Harry replied.

"What is he up to?" Ron asked.

"Well, I think Lucius Malfoy and Voldemort are using him as their inside man so my job is to find out Draco's objectives and to keep him from vital information," Harry replied.

"Wow Harry, I can't believe Dumbledore did this," Hermione said.

"To be honest I didn't either, but I am going to need your guys' help," Harry replied.

"Of course!" Hermione cried.

"I'm in," Ron replied.

"Good, we have to be careful though, if Malfoy finds out that we are tailing him, he might abort his mission and we will never uncover anything, so if either of you find out something, you have to tell me right away so I can report it to Dumbledore," Harry explained.

"Sure thing," Hermione agreed.

"Why can't we just go straight to Dumbledore?" Ron asked.

"Because, it might attract unwanted attention," Harry replied.

"Wouldn't it attract attention to you to?" Ron asked.

"Well no, because if you think, I go to his office more often than any other student, so it would be less likely to attract attention," Harry explained.

"Got a point there," Ron agreed.

"So what do we do now?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing yet, I have to talk to Dumbledore after the feast," Harry replied.

They all fell silent and Hermione was going nuts because Harry thought that she and Ron were...

"Anyway I thought it best to let you know, now I will leave you to it then," Harry said as he left them once again.

"He has changed, but I can't tell how," Ron said once Harry had left.

The rest of the train ride was uneventful and Hermione and Ron spent the rest of the time either talking about Harry or fighting. Harry had not stayed with them and instead found an empty compartment and sat alone, meditating. Sirius had taught him this and it always calmed him and allowed him to review things more efficiently, plus it helped him with his temper, it was harder to make him lose his temper than it was before. The train arrived at Hogwarts and Harry smiled as he heard the familiar bellow of Hagrid as he called for the first years. Harry made his way to the Thestral carriages and was soon joined by Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Luna.

"You know it just occurred to me, who are the prefects?" Harry asked.

"Didn't you get the post?" Ron asked.

"No," Harry replied.

"Dumbledore made some changes this year, each Head of House appoints two prefects, one male and one female, only they won't be announced this year until the feast since it is a brand new thing," Hermione explained.

"Huh, this is going to be interesting," Harry thought as the carriages made there way to Hogwarts.

AN: Well there we go! I am debating on making Ron bad or not so your input would be nice, just leave it in your review. Anyway see ya later!

Dragonthunder89


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

AN: Hello again, I got some very good feedback last chapter so I want to thank you all for that. Anyway, here we are with chapter eight so without further ado, here we go!

Dragonthunder89

Fighting Alone

The students arrived in the Great Hall and waited for the first years to be sorted into their respective houses. Harry looked up to the staff table and noticed Hagrid was not present again which made Harry wonder whether he was off with the giants again. Harry's gaze then fell on Snape whose piercing eyes were staring right back at him challengingly. Harry was shocked to see Remus Lupin sitting to Snape's left and grinned when Remus noticed him looking. After what seemed like forever, the sorting was concluded and the feast began. Harry sat eating silently, observing everyone around him but was torn from his reverie by a tap on his shoulder.

"Mr Potter, the headmaster would like a quick word with you," McGonagall said.

Harry nodded and followed her up to the staff table all the while students began to whisper.

"Good evening headmaster," Harry greeted respectfully.

"Good evening Harry, I have been informed that while on the train, you attacked two slytherins by the names of Crabbe and Goyle, am I told correct?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes sir I did have a conflict with them, but I was not the attacker sir," Harry replied truthfully.

"I see, well then would you care to explain your side of the story?" Dumbledore asked.

"Not at all, Draco Malfoy and his two cronies were bullying Colin Creavey. I happened to come upon them and I told them to stop, after sending Colin off I tried to tell them to leave him alone peacefully. But they were determined to pick a fight, so Crabbe grabbed me and made to hit me so I fought back," Harry explained.

"I see, it seems we have two conflicting stories," Dumbledore replied.

"Sir with all due respect, I have more credibility in the truth department, but if you wish I will talk again under veritaserum," Harry offered.

"No need my dear boy, I know that what you speak is the truth," Dumbledore chuckled.

"Well then, why am I up here?" Harry asked confused.

"To keep up appearances Harry, I must ask you about your mission while we have a moment though," Dumbledore said.

It was then that Harry noticed McGonagall had put up a silencing charm to avoid eavesdroppers.

"Actually, I have learned some troubling news sir, Draco was going to use Colin to gather information from me, about you," Harry replied.

"Interesting, what kind?" Dumbledore asked.

"Your habits, frequent places that you visit throughout the castle," Harry replied.

"I see that young Draco is trying to discover my habits so he can initiate some sort of plot it seems," Dumbledore said.

"What should I do sir?" Harry asked.

"Perhaps I should intentionally let him discover my frequent habits," Dumbledore replied winking.

"You mean set him up," Harry said catching on.

"Exactly," Dumbledore replied.

"But Albus, that could be dangerous," McGonagall spoke up.

"Do not worry Minerva, Harry is keeping an eye on him and hopefully we will discover his plans or catch him in the act. Then we can flush out his father," Dumbledore explained.

"But sir, Lucius knows that we know what he is how will that flush him out?" Harry asked.

"Because, if I expel him, his father and mother will have to appear at his expulsion," Dumbledore replied.

"Ah, I get it now," Harry realized.

"Now Harry, I know you are having trouble with Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger..." Dumbledore started.

"Sir, I am dealing with it, they have to get their own affairs sorted out and then I told them once they have done that, we can talk," Harry cut in.

"Very well, off you go then," Dumbledore replied.

"Sir?" Harry asked.

"Yes Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Remus is teaching this year? I thought he was...well you know going undercover with the werewolves," Harry replied.

"Ah yes, he is, your DADA teacher is an old friend of mine, Horace Slughorn, he has not shown up yet and Remus is here to discuss things before he left," Dumbledore explained.

"Oh okay then," Harry replied.

Harry returned to his seat and finished eating and when the feast concluded, Dumbledore rose to speak again. He noted that Harry was not sitting next to Hermione or Ron and this disturbed him but he had faith in Harry.

"Excellent, now we will announce the prefects of each house!" Dumbledore announced.

Harry didn't pay attention to Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff but stood a rapt attention when it came to Slytherin.

"The male prefect for Slytherin is, Draco Malfoy!" Dumbledore announced.

Harry almost fell out of his seat, Malfoy? Was Dumbledore mad? The female was Millicent Bulstrode who ironically was Draco's new girlfriend.

"The Gryffindor male prefect is, Harry Potter!" Dumbledore announced.

Ron was boiling with rage and his face matched his hair. It simply was not fair, Harry got everything and he got nothing.

"The Gryffindor female prefect is, Hermione Granger!" Dumbledore announced.

Harry laughed, that one he did expect but it was funny to watch Hermione get choked up with surprise. Harry was surprised that Dumbledore made him prefect, he figured that he would give it to Neville or Ron.

"Alright then! Now we will all retire for the night!" Dumbledore concluded.

The students all filed out but Harry lagged behind and observed his two best friends who were unaware. They were huddled as they walked in hushed whispers and Harry could only wonder what they were talking about. It struck Harry that he felt more alone this year than last, he figured he would see how things played out. As he entered the Common Room he found several students lounging and talking about their summers. Harry spotted Hermione and Ron in a corner engaged in deep conversation and they remained unaware of his presence so Harry sat in front of the inviting fireplace and stared into the flames. His thoughts began to drift, and they eventually settled on Hermione. Harry remembered clearly how she looked at the platform and oh how he wished he could gaze at her again so he could see her lovely curves...

_'Hey, don't let your thoughts drift to her, remember how you trained Potter the more you get attached, the more you have to lose' _Harry thought as he forced his mind away from her.

"Harry?" Hermione's gentle voice asked.

Harry broke his gaze and turned to see Hermione staring down at him with Ron standing beside her.

"What?" Harry asked eliminating all emotion from his voice.

"We were curious as to how much you trained this past summer?" Hermione asked timidly.

"Everyday, sun up to sun down with a couple days in there somewhere for breaks," Harry replied.

"Wow, well just curious I guess," Hermione said awkwardly.

"Listen, I can sense the tension, what is the matter?" Harry asked.

Harry noticed Ron was biting his tongue, dying to have his say.

"Well then, Ron you seem to have something on your mind so why don't you get it off your chest? It seems you want to have it out with me so go ahead, vent," Harry offered.

"It isn't fair! Why did you get prefect?! You have everything and always get everything while I get nothing!" Ron shouted.

"No I suppose it isn't fair that you have two loving parents who would do anything for you, or that school is the biggest challenge at the moment, I mean really," Harry replied quietly with no emotion.

"Wait what?" Ron faltered.

"Well Ron you may think that the riches and money and fame is great and sometimes it is, but you have the one thing in life I would literally die and give up all my money and fame for," Harry explained.

"What is that?" Ron asked.

"Love," Harry replied as he rose from the couch.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

Harry stopped and let his gaze fall on Hermione and looked deeply into her eyes before turning his gaze back to Ron.

"I believe Hermione will be able to answer that one for you, by the way congratulations on prefect Hermione. I am going for a walk, goodnight," Harry replied as he left the Common Room.

"Hermione?" Ron asked.

Hermione knew what Harry was talking about and her heart broke as tears began to fall down her cheeks. Harry's gaze confirmed it, he truly believed that she and Ron were going to become a couple. Maybe that was why he was acting different, maybe that was why he was intentionally becoming increasingly isolated from them.

"Sorry Ron, goodnight," Hermione cried as she retreated to the girls' dormitories leaving a confused Ron standing there.

* * *

Harry walked down the dark corridor not really knowing where he was going. But he soon came upon Malfoy in the corridor with Millicent and quietly approached to hear what they were saying.

"Is it true Draco?" Millicent asked.

"Is what true?" Draco asked.

"Do you really have the mark?" Millicent asked.

"Yes," Draco replied as he pulled up the sleeve of his robe revealing the evil Dark Mark.

Harry decided to make his presence known at this point and walked out of the shadows.

"What do we have here?" Harry asked.

"Potter, what are you doing here?" Draco asked pulling his wand from his robes.

"Careful Malfoy, I might get the wrong idea," Harry taunted.

"What we are doing is none of your business," Millicent replied.

"Well then I was checking for students who might be up and about when they aren't supposed to be," Harry said.

"Go back to your tower Potter," Malfoy ordered.

"Then perhaps you should return to yours," Harry countered not moving.

"Don't try to order me around!" Malfoy snarled raising his wand.

"You don't scare me Malfoy," Harry replied calmly and somewhat coldly.

To prove his point, Harry walked forward until Malfoy's wand was touching Harry's forehead.

"Go ahead, do it, I know you have been dying for a chance to take me out so here's your chance, I am unarmed and you have your wand pressed against my forehead take your best shot," Harry challenged.

Draco lowered his wand and with a nasty glare he and Millicent left. Harry turned only to run into Snape.

"Well Mr. Potter what do you think you are doing out of bed after hours?" Snape asked.

"I was checking the corridors for students, making sure they were not out of bed after hours," Harry replied.

"Oh? Is that so?" Snape asked clearly not convinced.

"Yes, I thought as prefect I should do that am I not supposed to?" Harry asked feigning innocence.

"No that is the Head Boy and Girl's job, now you will go back to your dormitory now, and I will let you off with a warning this time, however, should I catch you out again regardless of your intentions, you will suffer the consequences," Snape threatened.

"Yes sir," Harry replied.

With that Snape marched Harry back to Gryffindor tower but Harry did not go to bed, instead he sat in front of the fire again. Hermione came down from her dormitory only to be surprised to see Harry staring into the dying embers of the fire in front of him. Hermione approached thinking Harry was too focused to notice, but in fact he knew she was there all along.

"Hermione, what is on your mind?" Harry asked not looking up.

"Harry can we talk?" Hermione asked.

" I guess so," Harry replied.

"Harry, I know why you are mad at Ron and I," Hermione started.

"Was," Harry cut in.

"What?" Hermione asked confused.

"Was mad, past tense," Harry clarified.

"No I mean I know you think that Ron and I are..." Hermione trailed off.

"So what makes you think I am angry at you guys if that happens to be true?" Harry asked.

"Well I guess I figured you would feel like a third wheel or something like that," Hermione replied.

"I have always been the third wheel Hermione, whether you noticed or not," Harry said.

"That's not true Harry," Hermione argued.

"Explain to me then why you are down here trying to explain yourself to me," Harry asked.

Hermione stopped, he had a point that is what it looked like and Hermione didn't blame him.

"Look Hermione, you and Ron fight constantly and a lot of the time I am at the center of it. So yes I am the third wheel and I refuse to be such so you and Ron will be happier together, I have accepted this," Harry explained.

"But..." Hermione protested.

"I still have a job to do, Voldemort is amassing huge numbers to the dark side and his power grows everyday. If I am to survive I too must grow stronger everyday. But I cannot allow myself any weaknesses," Harry explained.

"Harry you can't distance yourself from everyone, that is what Voldemort wants," Hermione replied.

"Voldemort is unknowingly digging himself a hole by doing so, allow me to explain. I force myself to become almost completely cut off from everyone. That way I can fight him with everything and not hold back in fear of someone's safety. I made that mistake with Cedric, and I almost made the same mistake again with Sirius and this summer I reviewed all of that and came to know the truth. I really want a normal life Hermione, but I have to steel myself and become cold in order to realize that dream, so if you are feeling guilty, don't I have accepted my fate, me against Voldemort, fighting alone," Harry explained as he rose from the couch.

Hermione was at a loss, she would not allow Harry to face Voldemort alone, she would be dead first.

"Harry, we won't let you face him alone," Hermione argued.

"You don't have a choice Hermione, I don't like it either, the path has been laid before me, and a narrow one at that. Now I have to walk it, and should you guys try to follow after a certain point you will be able to go no further, as the path thins until only I can go on," Harry explained

"Harry that is what Voldemort wants," Hermione argued.

"He will get it, but not in the way he is imagining," Harry replied.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"He will expect me to crumble because he will try to exploit a weakness, the trouble is, I will be cut off so he cannot use anyone against me and with no attachments I can do anything," Harry replied.

Hermione stood at a loss, Harry was really going to fly solo but then a thought occurred to her.

"Harry what about your future girlfriend?" Hermione asked.

"I won't have one as I am restraining and slowly eliminating my attachment to romantic interests. That would be foolish and it would be Voldemort's greatest weapon he could use against me," Harry replied.

Harry noticed the almost heartbroken expression cross her face but it vanished quickly as Hermione regained herself.

"Well then I suppose I will leave you to it then, I am sorry, you stick with Ron, however, I have lost respect for him and I plan on staying away from him. I am not putting you in the middle and it isn't like you have to choose between us, but if you did, I am sure you would choose Ron, goodnight," Harry finished as he headed to the boys' dormitories.

Hermione stood shocked and then she was very upset and frustrated all at the same time. She could only wonder how or why Harry had changed like this. Then she thought of Sirius, maybe he had something to do with it. Hermione made it a point to find and talk to Sirius about this.

* * *

Dumbledore sat in his office brooding over the parchments that lay on his desk in front of him. He had received Intel from Remus that the werewolves were moving and that it seemed they were moving into the Forbidden Forest. This was disturbing news indeed, Dumbledore decided he would have to venture into the forest and speak with the centaurs. Perhaps they could provide some protection. But he could not go alone, he would take McGonagall and Harry with him as they were part of the Order. Dumbledore chuckled, it was hard getting used to the fact that Harry was part of the Order now.

"Fawkes," Dumbledore said turning to the beautiful phoenix.

Fawkes turned and regarded Dumbledore closely.

"Could you please summon Minerva here for me?" Dumbledore asked.

Fawkes sang a few soft notes before disappearing in a brilliant flash. This was going to be a very stressful year for all of them.

AN: Okay, well then I have an idea on where this story will go now but keep the feedback coming I enjoy it and yes it does influence me and the plot. So leave a review and until next chapter!

Dragonthunder89


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter the whole thing belongs to J. K. Rowling.

AN: Hello again, I got a lot of feedback thank you and keep it coming, I apologize for the long delay, I have had family problems that have taken a lot of my time but I am trying to update as fast as I can, anyway let's continue with chapter nine!

Dragonthunder89

Fighting Alone

Minerva McGonagall entered Dumbledore's office briskly and found him behind his desk rubbing his temples.

"What is it Albus?" McGonagall asked.

"Minerva, we must go into the Forbidden Forest, Cornelius is resigning which means we may be able to win back the favor of the centaurs," Dumbledore replied.

"But Albus, it will take some time until the next minister is elected and when he or she is how do we know they will work with us?" McGonagall asked.

"We don't but if we go talk to the centaurs now, perhaps if things go bad they will come around and see that we are their friends," Dumbledore replied.

"Very well, when are we going to do it?" McGonagall asked.

"Perhaps the day after tomorrow? I want to take you and Harry with me," Dumbledore replied.

"What? I don't think bringing Mr. Potter is a good idea," McGonagall argued.

"He is part of the Order Minerva and has taken an oath just like us," Dumbledore replied.

"I suppose so, well then when do we leave?" McGonagall asked.

"Nightfall, we don't want to attract any attention," Dumbledore replied.

"Very well, I will inform Mr. Potter," McGonagall said.

"Minerva, I am afraid I have another intention also," Dumbledore replied.

"What is it Albus?" McGonagall asked.

"If things go well, I have a new mission for Harry, and if possible miss Granger will assume command of his current mission with young Draco," Dumbledore explained.

"What are you planning Albus? I don't like the sound of it," McGonagall asked.

"If things go well we are going to leave Harry with the centaurs to train deep inside the forest," Dumbledore explained.

"Albus that is out of the question!" McGonagall cried in horror.

"Firenze will be with him and he will be quite safe since we will inform everyone that while in the forest, the centaurs were hostile and Harry was killed in a fight with them, to emphasize this we will have to reappear torn and bloody but of course we will be unharmed, this will keep Harry even safer but the cost will be high," Dumbledore replied.

"But Albus, what of his friends?" McGonagall asked.

"He is isolating himself anyway, this will make it easier, I am afraid miss Granger will be devastated. Perhaps we could have Tonks be here for her when Harry 'dies' because she will be absolutely crushed," Dumbledore replied.

"I don't like this Albus, how do I tell Mr. Potter?" McGonagall asked.

"Send him to me, I will tell him," Dumbledore replied.

* * *

Hermione awoke the next morning feeling better than she did the previous night, but she still had many things to sort out. She glanced at her watch, it was a little past seven. First day classes didn't start until nine. Hermione got up, showered, and after dressing in her robes, headed down to the Common Room. She knew Ron would not be up and she didn't expect Harry so she went down to the Great Hall for some food. However, she noticed students whispering and heading for the courtyard and her curiosity got the better of her and she followed. Once outside she saw a lot of girls staring out into the middle and gasped when she followed their gaze. It was Harry, he was wearing a black muscle shirt and black sweat pants. He was doing reps with dumb bells and Hermione didn't blame the girls.

_'Wow, he looks hot! Hermione get a grip! But look at his body, those arms and those muscles' _Hermione thought.

It was true, the intense training had given Harry an awesome six pack that was tight and toned and his arms were muscular but not bulging. Hermione was disheartened though, she would be competing with all of the girls at school, and she didn't stand a chance.

* * *

Harry continued to rapidly pump the weights up and down, he knew all of the girls were watching him but he didn't care. The only one he was concerned with watching was a certain bushy haired witch, Harry found it really hard to answer Hermione's question the previous night about the girlfriend. In all honesty he wanted her more than anything, but he made a promise not to do it until Voldemort was gone. If Harry survived the war he would make his move on her assuming it wasn't too late. That part bothered Harry, on the one hand she would be safe and he could focus, on the other she could get involved with someone else and be out of his reach. Harry forced himself to accept that possibility, reason being that it was to protect her and Harry knew he would go to hell and back for her and he would give his life to protect hers. He was torn from his internal conflict when McGonagall approached him.

"Mr. Potter, I hate to interrupt your training, but I need you to come with me immediately," McGonagall said.

Harry nodded and dropped the dumb bells while hurrying after her. He saw Hermione as he passed the group of students but pretended to not see her. They were heading for the headmaster's office, not a good sign. They entered to find Dumbledore behind his desk rubbing at his temples.

"Ah good morning Harry, please sit down," Dumbledore greeted.

"Good morning sir what is the matter?" Harry asked.

"Harry I am having a hard time with this, it is the most difficult thing I have to ask of you," Dumbledore started.

"What is it sir is something wrong?" Harry asked.

"Harry Minerva and I are taking you with us tomorrow night to visit the centaurs, we are going to try and sway them to our side," Dumbledore explained.

"That's great!" Harry exclaimed.

"However, this has presented an opportunity, but would require great sacrifice. Harry, tomorrow night should things go well, we are going to leave you with Firenze and train with the centaurs in the forest. To do this and keep you safe, the world must believe that the centaurs were hostile and that you were killed in a fight with them. To emphasize this, Minerva and myself are going to reemerge bloody and beaten. Only the two of us will know that you are alive and well, but the rest of the world will believe you to be dead," Dumbledore explained.

"Headmaster...I will do it," Harry said after a little hesitation.

"My dear boy are you quite sure?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, my only concern is Hermione and Sirius," Harry replied.

"Yes, we are going to arrange for Tonks to be here when miss Granger receives the news, as for Sirius, we haven't worked that out yet, it may be wise to let him know you are okay otherwise he may act rashly," Dumbledore replied.

"Okay sir, I am fully prepared to do this," Harry said.

"Harry understand that by doing this, you will not see any of your friends or loved ones for a very long time, and they will all think you are dead," Dumbledore cautioned.

"I understand sir, it is a sacrifice I am willing to make in order to destroy Voldemort and protect everyone," Harry replied.

"You truly are your father's son, and a true Gryffindor," Dumbledore said smiling.

"Thank you sir," Harry replied.

"Very well, you will not have classes today, Minerva will make the arrangements, make sure you see everyone before you leave as you will not see them for a long time," Dumbledore said.

"I will sir," Harry replied.

"Very well, off you go," Dumbledore said.

McGonagall led the way and Harry followed but he had a question he just had to have the answer to.

"Professor, how long will I be dead?" Harry asked.

"I am going to be quite honest Mr. Potter, I don't know, months, years even. It depends on how long it takes you until you are ready to fight him," McGonagall replied.

"I see, well at least I will save the generations after me from all of the pain and death and war. Plus if I survive, perhaps I can raise my children and give them the life I never had," Harry said.

McGonagall had tears in her eyes as she turned and smiled down on one of her favorite students.

"I am very proud of you Harry, and I know your parents are as well," McGonagall replied.

"Thanks professor, I am going to resume my training until we go tonight," Harry said.

McGonagall nodded and they parted ways, Harry to train, McGonagall to prepare for the upcoming evening. Harry returned to the courtyard but by now the students had dissipated but Harry didn't care, he just resumed where he left off. Harry was unaware, but Hermione, the stellar school girl was not paying attention in class. Hermione was sitting next to Ron and neither were paying attention but for very different reasons. Ron was too busy ogling Hermione and undressing her with his eyes, while Hermione could not stop thinking about Harry and a dread that she didn't know gripped her, why did she have this sense of dread? She suddenly felt eyes on her and glanced over and saw Ron was looking at her with a look of lust.

"Ron, stop staring at me or else," Hermione threatened.

Ron wanted to protest but he decided against it and tore his eyes away. The rest of the day was boring and depressing for Hermione, she had not seen Harry at all, he was not in any of his classes. She inquired about it with McGonagall, but McGonagall said Harry was doing something very important concerning the war. Night fell and Hermione sat in the Common Room with Ron doing her school work. The portrait opened and Harry stepped in.

"Harry! I haven't seen you all day!" Hermione cried getting up.

"Yeah, but I assume you know why," Harry replied.

"Yeah, McGonagall told me," Hermione said.

"I see, well I came because Dumbledore told me I could tell you guys that we are going to talk to the centaurs tonight," Harry replied.

"Really? I'll come with you," Hermione said.

"Sorry Hermione, I can't let you come, but don't worry, everything will work out in the end, no matter what happens," Harry said more quietly.

"Okay, well then I will see you later Harry," Hermione replied.

"Goodbye Hermione," Harry said as he exited the Common Room.

Hermione didn't know why, but the way Harry said it...it sounded so final but before she could question him he was gone. What Hermione didn't know was, that would be the last time she would see Harry Potter.

* * *

Harry met up with Dumbledore and McGonagall in the Great Hall, and was very surprised to see Sirius.

"Sirius?" Harry asked.

"I am not allowed to go with you, it would draw suspicion but I had to see you again before you left, in fact I am going with you guys, and since I can get around undetected, I can come and visit you," Sirius replied.

"Thank you," Harry said.

"Very well, let's go are you ready Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"As ready as I will ever be," Harry admitted.

The four then exited Hogwarts and headed for the Forbidden Forest and on the outskirts they met Firenze who had been waiting for them.

"Harry, you are very brave and I will be honored to help you," Firenze said.

"Thank you Firenze, I hope your kin feel the same," Harry replied.

Firenze nodded and then he led them into the forest. Dumbledore took up beside Firenze while Harry walked behind them between McGonagall and Sirius. They had walked for a good twenty minutes and even at night, the forest became darker. Then Harry saw them as they approached.

"Firenze, why do you bring them into our woods?" a centaur asked.

"They seek friendship, and help in the war against Voldemort," Firenze replied.

"I am Albus Dumbledore, I seek your help," Dumbledore said.

"What help do you seek?" the centaur asked.

"I..we seek your help in training Harry here, he will stay until he believes he is ready and until then, the rest of the world will think he is dead," Dumbledore explained.

"Why would they think that?" the centaur asked.

"Because, our story will be told that you were hostile and that Harry was killed in a fight against you, we reemerge bloody and beaten but of course we will be unharmed," Dumbledore explained.

"I see, and this will all be a ruse to throw Voldemort off the boy's trail?" the centaur asked.

"Exactly, then Harry can surprise him and then he will be defeated," Dumbledore replied.

"Hmm, very well, he can stay and train in the forest, but I must use a knife to slash your robes," the centaur said.

"Yes, very well, I can take care of the rest," Dumbledore replied.

Once this was done, final goodbyes were exchanged and Harry left with the centaurs to go even deeper into the Forbidden Forest.

* * *

Dumbledore performed several spells to change their appearances to bloody and beaten. Dumbledore had a large gash on his cheek, McGonagall had a large bruise on her head and another on her arms, then Sirius had a bloody gash on his head with blood running down his face. After that, the news spread like wildfire.

* * *

The next day, Dumbledore called everyone into the Great Hall for the big announcement Hermione and Ron sat together next to Neville and Luna. Hermione was going nuts wondering where Harry was. She noticed that along with the staff, Remus, Tonks, and Sirius were also present. Remus had a look of confusion on his face but it was necessary for him not to know until later for the plan to work perfectly.

"Good morning everyone, many of you have already found out but to those of you who haven't I have something to tell you all," Dumbledore started.

There were many whispers and Dumbledore let them for a few seconds then he raised his hands for silence.

"It is a very sad day for us all, last night I journeyed with Minerva, Sirius Black, and young Harry Potter into the Forbidden Forest to talk with the centaurs about the growing threat of Voldemort. The meeting I am afraid, went terribly wrong and a fight broke out. Harry was struck down by several arrows that were intended to take my life, Harry jumped in front of the arrows that would have killed me from behind. As a result, Harry was struck by seven arrows and killed," Dumbledore announced.

"NO!!" Remus screamed as tears began to flow.

"HARRY!!" Hermione screamed as she too broke down and sobbed uncontrollably.

Sirius went to comfort Remus, while Tonks swiftly went to Hermione who clung to the auror.

"Harry Potter was a very powerful young boy, selfless, noble, and a true friend and Gryffindor, classes today will be cancelled as we remember Harry Potter," Dumbledore finished as he and Sirius led Remus off to tell him what really happened.

Ron sat there stunned, but he wasn't as sad as he thought he would be, in fact this meant that he would definitely get the girl. Ron was hurt that his former best friend had been killed, but then again there were casualties in war and at that point Ron was glad it was Harry instead of himself or Hermione.

"It's not fair, he can't be gone!" Hermione sobbed.

* * *

Dumbledore and Sirius led Remus to the headmaster's office and charmed the room so no one else would accidentally hear anything.

"Remus, now that the hardest part is out of the way, we can tell you this, Harry is not dead," Sirius said.

"What? But you just announced..." Remus protested.

"Yes, it is a ruse, only a few people know the truth Harry is training to destroy Voldemort and with him being dead he will be safer and uninterrupted," Dumbledore explained.

"Are you out of your mind?! It will take him years!" Remus shouted.

"Harry did this of his own choice I only offered saying he did not have to do this but he accepted," Dumbledore defended.

"What about Voldemort? He will probably grow bolder now that Harry is gone," Remus asked.

"Ah but you see, Voldemort still fears me, until I am gone, he will not risk it. So my goal now is to stay alive until Harry is ready," Dumbledore replied.

"Well, it is a good plan, but I still don't have to like it," Remus said.

AN: There we go, leave a review because I value them highly, until next chapter!

Dragonthunder89


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, so please don't sue me.

AN: Hi readers! Thank you so much for the reviews, and I have gotten this question a lot. Will Hermione hook up with Ron? I will answer that question. She will begin to lean that way, I am a hardcore H/Hr shipper so don't worry to much. You may see it you may not, it will be hard for me to write no matter what so here we go!

**Dragonthunder89**

Fighting Alone

Harry walked deeper into the forest with Firenze by his side. The other centaurs had dispersed, saying they would inform their brethren of their new guest.

"Firenze...I just thought of something," Harry spoke up.

"What is it Harry?" Firenze asked.

"Well, this plan is good, but I just remembered that five years ago I accidentally encountered Voldemort in here. So my concern is, how do I know he won't venture in here before I am ready to face him?" Harry asked.

"I see your point, that would be most troubling seeing as we would be unable to protect you," Firenze replied.

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"Voldemort is most powerful and uses powerful magic whereas we centaurs do not, we are a primitive race that relies on conventional weapons. However, these conventional weapons may work on most creatures and Death Eaters, but are useless against Voldemort," Firenze explained.

"What? But how can your weapons be ineffective?" Harry asked confused.

"Tell me Harry, can you perform what is called multi casting?" Firenze asked.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Well Harry, in the last war, we centaurs fought the dark forces to keep our home safe. I personally witnessed centaurs attack Voldemort himself. They fired volleys of arrows to bring him down. But Voldemort merely cast a shield that surrounded his entire being. While doing this, he was able to kill our brothers," Firenze explained.

"What?! But if he had shifted his concentration to kill, his shield would have dropped because he would break his focus on that particular spell," Harry replied.

"That is why very few wizards can perform multi casting, it takes a great deal of power," Firenze said.

"So the battle I witnessed in the Department of Mysteries..." Harry started.

"Was only a taste of his real power," Firenze replied.

"Well I guess I must train and become powerful enough to rival Voldemort," Harry said.

"Ah yes, Dumbledore had forgotten to remind you and so has asked me to tell you," Firenze replied.

"By doing this training, you will be able to enhance your powers to unimaginable heights however, no matter how powerful you become, in the end it will not be enough to stop the Dark Lord," Firenze explained.

"What?! Then what is the point?!" Harry demanded.

"The point Harry, is that you will not be able to defeat Voldemort by sheer power alone, you must also be armed with another element..." Firenze replied.

"Are you talking about...?" Harry started to ask.

"This element I speak of...is love Harry," Firenze replied.

"So even after the length of time I spend training...I still have to find love?" Harry asked.

"If what Dumbledore has told me is correct, yes," Firenze replied as he gave Harry a sympathetic look.

"What was he thinking?! Everyone believes me to be dead! How is a dead man supposed to find love?!" Harry demanded angrily.

"Yes, I had the same concern, perhaps this plan was a good one, it wasn't how do you say? Flawless," Firenze replied.

"Far from it," Harry said grumpily.

"Now Harry, I won't be far away and I will check in on you from time to time, but I must leave you to your training. Your godfather is bringing you very advanced material for your training, until then I would suggest developing your body," Firenze advised as he galloped off leaving Harry alone.

* * *

Meanwhile back at Hogwarts, things were proceeding smoothly much to Dumbledore's relief. Yet he was concerned with a certain student. He had been told by McGonagall that Hermione had gone up into the Gryffindor Common Room and curled up on the couch and had not moved. He was awaiting McGonagall's return.

Minerva McGonagall strode up to the Fat Lady who immediately let her through. When she entered her heart broke at the sight. There on the couch sat a sobbing Hermione who was clinging to Tonks for dear life. Tonks was crying to as she was not aware of the truth. Seeing this must have led the other students to give them space. McGonagall saw Ron a few feet away, he was quietly sitting reading a quidditch magazine. Now everyone knew Ron Weasley was never a mushy type, however, his reaction and coping was far better than McGonagall would have expected. Especially because she was aware of Ron's severe immaturity. McGonagall made her way to the couch and gently sat down next to the two crying women.

"Minerva," Tonks said as she tried to compose herself.

"Tonks, Remus is down in the Great Hall, I would like to speak to her if I could," McGonagall replied.

"Of course," Tonks said as she got up and went to find Remus.

Hermione chanced a look at her favorite teacher and was a little surprised at what she saw, instead of the serious and strict look she usually wore. McGonagall's face was soft and understanding. McGonagall was secretly glancing at Ron, she had a bad feeling and suspicion.

"Professor, I'm sorry you came in here to see me like this," Hermione said as she wiped her face.

"No my dear, don't apologize, I came to check on you, just let it out Hermione it won't do to keep it bottled up," McGonagall said soothingly.

Hermione was shocked McGonagall had used her first name but in her current state, she didn't care. The floodgates to Hermione's emotions were about to break.

"Why?! Why did he have to die?!!" Hermione wailed.

McGonagall enveloped her in a gentle hug as Hermione cried fresh tears yet again. The portrait hole opened and Tonks, and Remus entered. McGonagall nodded at them and made to get up. Tonks replaced her but before Remus could join them, McGonagall gently pulled Remus out into the hall.

"Remus I need you to do something for me," McGonagall said.

"What is that Minerva?" Remus asked.

"Mr. Weasley is taking Harry's death entirely to well...I have a bad feeling, would you keep and eye on him for me?" McGonagall asked.

"You believe that he will try taking advantage of Hermione now that Harry isn't around to stop him," Remus replied.

"I am afraid that is exactly why," McGonagall admitted.

"Say no more I will see to it," Remus replied.

"Thank you, I must go and have a word with Albus," McGonagall said as the two parted ways.

* * *

The Dark Lord known as Voldemort had received the news of Harry Potter's death. At first he couldn't believe his ears but then he began to celebrate. He then ordered Lucius to accelerate the recruiting. Then he ordered his current Death Eaters who had children at Hogwarts to get in contact with them and with Draco at the head, begin a reign of terror on the students at Hogwarts. With them wreaking havoc, that old fool Dumbledore would be so busy trying to contain it that he would be blind to what was happening within the ranks of Voldemort. Finally, the second part of his plan was to use his inside men at the _Daily Prophet _to attack Dumbledore, with any luck, Voldemort could turn the entire wizarding world against Dumbledore and then when Dumbledore is backed into a corner, the dark forces would strike and finally bring an end to the Light.

"My dreams will soon be realized!" Voldemort cackled.

* * *

Harry sat on a stump in front of the fire he had made. One thing he hated was he wasn't sure if it was day or night. But perhaps that would keep him ignorant of how many days passed by. Firenze had stopped back and helped Harry create a bow and showed him how to make arrows. With this, Harry would hunt for his food, Firenze explained that hunting was a good exercise but also he would need to hunt because Harry had no alternative food source. Harry had suggested using his wand to kill his game but Firenze argued that it was too risky seeing as he was going to eat it. Thankfully however, Harry was able to use magic to cook the food he would kill. Harry studied his clothing and decided he needed to transfigure it to something more suited to his new environment. Harry transfigured a piece of wood into a goblet and filled it with water. Harry decided that now would be a good time to go and give this hunting thing a try. Not being accustomed to it meant that it would take awhile to land a kill until he got the hang of it. But before he left Firenze had given him some pointers. Firenze had given Harry a quiver to hold his arrows. Judging by the size of the quiver it could hold fifty arrows.

"This is going to take some getting used to," Harry said aloud as he got up.

He slung the quiver on his back, grabbed the bow and started off. He didn't bother to remember where he came from as he could easily set up a camp somewhere else. Harry knew according to Hagrid that dark creatures lurked in the forest as well, Harry kept this in mind as he crept among the trees quietly. He was thankful that he at least had this ability to sneak around as he had done at the castle on several occasions. Harry didn't have to go far when he spotted a wild boar. Harry drew an arrow and knocked it, as he pulled the string back and took aim he heard something behind him. He spun around ready to shoot when he saw Firenze push the bow aside to avoid being hit.

"It's okay Harry it's just me," Firenze said.

"Firenze, you shouldn't sneak up on me like that," Harry replied.

"I apologize but I didn't want to interrupt your hunting," Firenze explained.

"So what is it?" Harry asked.

"I just came to witness your first kill," Firenze replied.

"Really?" Harry asked.

"Hungry for a boar eh? Make sure you hit them between the eyes, also along with boars I will teach you how to prepare an animal for eating," Firenze replied.

Harry nodded and turned his attention back to the boar who remained unaware. Harry drew back, and released and shockingly hit it exactly where Firenze had said to. The boar grunted and stumbled a little, but then fell dead.

"Very well done Harry," Firenze praised.

Harry quickly grabbed the boar and began to drag it back to where he guessed his fire was at. Firenze helped him and once they got back they set to work.

"Now, until you learn a spell for this, you will have to do it the old fashioned way, you have to gut the animal," Firenze explained.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I will show you, watch closely," Firenze replied.

Firenze grabbed the boar, drew a knife and sliced open the belly, much to Harry's displeasure. However, Harry watched and listened as Firenze explained to him what was safe to eat and what to throw out. He watched as Firenze removed all of the bones and set aside the meat.

"Now Harry, boars are a little more useful, their tusks can be used for superb arrow heads, then anything you don't use, you can take the remains and either throw them out or use it to attract more game," Firenze explained.

"This is going to be really hard," Harry replied.

"Yes, at first, but once you get the hang of it you will find that it isn't so bad," Firenze said.

"Thanks for everything Firenze," Harry replied.

"It was my pleasure, I will take my leave for now, goodbye," Firenze said as he disappeared.

Harry now sat alone again as he roasted the meat over the fire, the smell made his stomach growl with hunger. Harry heard footsteps and as a precaution drew his wand. But he smiled as a shaggy black dog came into view and transformed into Sirius.

"Sirius!" Harry cried as he got up to embrace his godfather.

"Hey there cub, smells good," Sirius replied.

"Would you join me? I just caught it and Firenze showed me how to do all of this earlier," Harry asked.

"Of course, I have to keep you updated on what's happening on the outside anyway," Sirius replied as he sat down.

"Oh before I forget, could you transfigure my clothes that are more suited for this environment for me?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, what would you like?" Sirius asked.

"Well I guess it doesn't matter what they look like, the only people who will see me is you and Firenze mostly," Harry replied.

"Yeah good point, but we want something that looks good to," Sirius said.

After thinking for a minute Sirius began transfiguring Harry's clothes. When he was finished, Harry took in his new attire. The clothes fit tight to his body as to avoid snagging, they were also black so he could hide easily in this dark environment. Harry's new shirt was a black tank top while his pants were a pair of black jeans, charmed to fit tightly but allow for flexibility and maneuverability.

"There we go," Sirius said.

"Their perfect, and comfortable to," Harry replied.

"Now, down to business," Sirius said as he sat down.

Harry followed suit, noting the serious expression on his godfather's face.

"What is going on?" Harry asked.

"Well...I will start with Hogwarts, Hermione is not coping well with your death, but right now we are alarmed at the way Ron is dealing with it," Sirius replied.

"How so?" Harry asked.

"He took it way to well for my liking, you would think he was glad to have you gone," Sirius said darkly.

"Maybe...we didn't leave things on the best of terms, at first I was really upset with him but as I have started training myself to keep my emotions in check I don't care if I repair my friendship with him or not anymore, plus I'm dead remember?" Harry asked.

"That isn't what I am worried about," Sirius replied cautiously.

"What? Then what is bothering you then?" Harry asked confused.

"Well, I am going to be blunt Harry, I believe he will try and take advantage of Hermione in her time of intense grief, because understand this Harry, when you died, part of Hermione died with you," Sirius explained.

"That bastard, I will rip out his spine if he does," Harry snarled with an anger Sirius had never seen before.

"The problem Harry, is that you are supposed to be dead, so you can do nothing right now, the best we can do is what we are doing right now and that is Remus is keeping an eye on him," Sirius replied.

"Damn it all! I feel so powerless!!" Harry yelled.

"I understand how you feel cub, I am going to help Remus ensure that it doesn't happen, but the problem now is Hermione," Sirius replied.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked calming down a little.

"We can somewhat prevent Ron from taking advantage, however, Hermione may turn to him anyway of her own free will," Sirius said.

"I know..." Harry started sadly.

"You do?" Sirius asked surprised.

"I'm not stupid Sirius, I knew full well about everything that might happen if I chose to do this. However, I chose to do this by my own free will because if I sacrifice everything, even my own happiness then the generations after me will be able to live in peace, happily, I don't want the younger generation to suffer like we suffer," Harry replied.

"So...I was right then?" Sirius asked cautiously.

"About what?" Harry asked.

"You love her don't you?" Sirius asked.

"Yes I love her, but it doesn't matter Sirius! By the time I am ready she will be with Ron or someone else! I want her to be happy so if I kill that bastard and she lives out her days with Ron and his family so be it!" Harry yelled as he fought back his tears.

"But Harry, what about you?" Sirius asked.

"What about me Sirius?! When Voldemort is gone the world will no longer need Harry Potter! That is why I am getting used to this solitude now!" Harry yelled.

"But Harry there are still people who care about you," Sirius replied.

"Yes, and that is why I am doing this, for them, hell I am to the point where I don't care if in destroying Voldemort I destroy myself because at least I wouldn't have to linger on, watching my Hermione with Ron and their children!" Harry continued.

"But Harry what about the prophecy?" Sirius asked.

"You mean the power the Dark Lord knows not? I have that part taken care of, when I face him I face him to protect those I love," Harry replied.

"No Harry, what about your true love?" Sirius asked.

"I made a choice Sirius, I chose a difficult path that will cost me everything, but in return I will vanquish that snake so everyone can live happily. I will bear no offspring as the only woman I wanted to bear my children will bear little Weasley's," Harry replied.

"So you would sacrifice your happiness and chance at true love to protect everyone?" Sirius asked.

"In a nutshell, yes," Harry said calming down.

"But why Harry? Why make a choice that is so costly to you?" Sirius asked trying to understand his godson.

"It is my fate, the prophecy confirmed it I alone can kill him, so there again it is my fate...fighting alone," Harry replied.

"I will not let you face him alone Harry," Sirius argued.

"It won't be easy, but you have to, I need you to live and keep an eye on things for me and even though she will have Ron and her children...I want you to keep an eye on Hermione for me," Harry replied.

Sirius struggled with this request, but he agreed that he would do so and then they set about eating the meat which Harry had to admit, was very good.

AN: Well there we go, I hope you are enjoying it. I know where you think it is going but don't worry, I can't stand R/Hr. Anyway leave a review and until next chapter!

**Dragonthunder89**


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I dont own Harry Potter or any of the characters, you know this by now.

AN: hello everyone, I have gotten a lot of positive feedback so we shall continue huh? Anyway leave a review and now on with chapter 11.

****

Dragonthunder89

Fighting Alone

Harry and Sirius both ate in silence as they pondered the conversation they just had. Suddenly, a thought struck Harry.

"Sirius?" Harry asked.

"Yes Harry?" Sirius asked.

"When you get the chance, can you bring Hermione out? I want to see her," Harry asked.

"Harry that would ruin the whole plan," Sirius reminded.

"No, I want to look at her, even if she cant see me, it will help my drive to become stronger, stronger for her," Harry explained.

"I will see if I can, the closest place would be near the lake, it is close to the forest," Sirius replied.

"Thank you," Harry said.

"Of course," Sirius replied.

The snapping of a twig however made both jump up drawing their wands. But it was only Firenze.

"Its only me," Firenze said raising his hands in defense.

"Hi Firenze," Harry greeted.

"Hello Harry, I see Sirius found you alright," Firenze replied.

"Hes not to hard to find," Sirius said.

"Hey!" Harry cried in mock offense.

The two began to laugh as Firenze wore a confused expression.

"There is a problem, the werewolves are advancing to settle here in the forest in order to spy on Dumbledore," Firenze said.

"I forgot about them, Remus mentioned that at the last meeting," Harry replied.

"That is not good," Sirius said.

"Fine, we will just have to kill them then," Harry replied.

"Harry by engaging them you risk revealing the truth," Firenze warned.

"Why? Sirius just needs to go and get me a sword or some other weapon to fight with, they wont be able to tell because centaurs use the same type of weapons," Harry explained.

"I never thought of that," Firenze admitted.

"Sirius, you better hurry," Harry replied.

"I will be back soon," Sirius said as he transformed into the dog and disappeared.

"Firenze, we must stop them allow me to fight with the other centaurs," Harry requested.

"Very well, but we must hurry come," Firenze replied as the two set off.

~**~

McGonagall entered the Gryffindor Common Room and found Hermione sitting in front of the fire doing her homework, or trying to.

"Miss Granger, I wonder if I could have a word?" McGonagall asked.

"Of course," Hermione replied setting her things aside.

"I am sure that before he died, Harry told you about his mission?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes he did, he is ...was tailing Malfoy," Hermione replied choking back a sob.

"I am sure Harry would want you to take up his mission in his place, can you do this for us?" McGonagall asked.

"Why does it matter professor? Harry is gone, the dark side has won, its only a matter of time now," Hermione replied as fresh tears fell.

"It matters because to give up fighting would be an insult to Mr. Potters memory young lady and I for one will not stop fighting because that boy gave his life for us," McGonagall explained with a sternness that even surprised Hermione.

"Youre right, Im sorry and yes I will be happy to tail Malfoy," Hermione replied.

"Very good, goodnight," McGonagall said as she left Hermione.

Ron soon came into the Common Room and sat down next to Hermione who had resumed with her study.

"Hermione, are you okay? I know that Harrys death hit you really hard," Ron asked.

"I can't believe he's gone, Hermione replied.

"I know you cant but he is Hermione, it will become easier to deal with when you accept it," Ron replied as he moved closer to her.

"No it wont, even when you accept the death of someone close to you it doesnt hurt any less," Neville snapped as he entered the room.

"Neville listen," Ron started.

The two boys started arguing back and forth but Hermione wasnt paying attention as her mind was solely on Harry. She thought back to the last time she saw him alive and then it hit her like a powerful stunner. Harry had said goodbye and that it would all work out. Hermione cried fresh tears. Harry knew he wasn't going to come back and that was why he wouldn't let her come. Although she came to the wrong conclusion, she, as well as everyone else was unaware of the battle that was about to take place several miles away in a pitch black forest.

~**~

Harry had been told the most effective way to kill a werewolf was with silver. So Harry sifted through his spell books that Sirius had brought with him and turned all of the arrows he had into silver arrows. Sirius arrived with two swords with pure silver blades and after several hours of preparing, the centaurs, Harry and Sirius were positioned in such a way to ambush the approaching werewolves.

"Not one must survive to tell the enemy of Harry," Firenze announced.

"Give no quarter!" the lead centaur shouted.

The force stood in silence and soon Harry could see a numerous amount of dark shapes that were approaching them. Harry knocked an arrow and drew back the string and noticed the others had done the same.

"Hold," the centaur whispered.

The werewolves entered the forest in a cluster which was what they had hoped for, but their senses were picking up the scents of the centaurs as several of them stopped.

"Fire!" the centaur ordered.

Dozens of arrows soared through the air and struck down the werewolves left and right as they scattered. The centaurs broke ranks to attack the battered and confused werewolves until the bellowing voice of Fenrir Greyback resounded.

"Fight back, kill them all!" Fenrir snarled.

Werewolves and centaurs attacked each other with ferocity while Harry was shooting werewolves as fast as he could muster. Sirius had since charged into the fray and his sword was coated in werewolf blood as he stabbed and slashed at his opponents. The centaurs were winning it seemed as the werewolf numbers dwindled.

"Fall back!" Fenrir yelled.

But as he turned to flee he found that the centaurs had flanked them and the fleeing werewolves were quickly brought down until only Fenrir himself was still alive, surrounded by the centaurs.

"How is this possible? You must have known we were coming, but how?" Fenrir asked.

"You invaded our woods and we retaliated, simple as that," a centaur replied.

Before Fenrir could answer, several arrows pierced his body. Fenrir stumbled and finally fell to the ground with his dying words, he uttered.

"Long live...Lord Voldemort," Fenrir sputtered before he became still.

"That was way to easy," Harry said.

"Yes, I expected there to be more of them, perhaps it is because of his arrogance that he underestimated us," Firenze offered.

"That is possible, as werewolves tend to be arrogant, plus most of these werewolves were not able to think and plan like Fenrir could," Sirius agreed.

"I dont have a lot of time, so I will get back to my training," Harry replied.

"Good, I will return to the Order to find out what is going on currently," Sirius said.

~**~

Time was passing quickly but for Hermione, every day she died a little bit more without Harry. Ron started getting touchy feely with her and at first her emotions were still raw but she was slowly succumbing. Meanwhile, Voldemort massed his forces in great numbers and the new minister was proving to be ineffective against the dark forces that were growing. Remus had been hiding among the werewolves and was both relieved and scared to hear of Fenrirs death. For when the news reached Voldemort he flew into a rage and immediately began plans to slaughter the centaurs and destroying the forest. Remus rushed to deliver the bad news to Dumbledore almost a month after the battle

"Albus, You Know Who is mobilizing a large force to attack the Forbidden Forest and destroy it!" Remus cried bursting into the headmasters office.

"Calm down my friend, now start over he plans to destroy the forest?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, Albus Harry is in danger!" Remus cried.

"Remus my friend you will find that in the last month Harry has surpassed many of us in power and skill. In fact I recently detected a powerful magical spike coming from the forest and I can only guess that Harry has been improving even more since then," Dumbledore explained.

"But surely you dont expect to stand by and do nothing!" Remus cried.

"Of course not, but the safety of the students is my top concern, Harry is with the centaurs and has ample protection. You may enter this battle if you so choose Remus, I know Sirius will undoubtedly be there. But I sense that the real fight is not in the forest, perhaps it is a diversion," Dumbledore replied.

"A diversion? You mean you think he will attack the castle directly?" Remus asked.

"I only hope Harry's new power will be able to stop them, but one advantage is I highly doubt Voldemort will be present, he may send his high ranking Death Eaters however and capturing them would benefit our cause greatly," Dumbledore explained.

"What about Hermione?" Remus asked.

"She must follow her own path I am afraid that I can do nothing, should she turn to either Mr. Weasley or one of the other boys I cannot intervene," Dumbledore replied.

"But what about Harry Dumbledore? Does his happiness not matter?!" Remus demanded growing angry.

"Of course it does, I did not force Harry to choose this path I merely suggested it as a way to advance in skill quicker. He knew full well of what he was getting into and I made sure with absolute certainty that this is what he wanted," Dumbledore explained.

"But Harry..." Remus started.

"I am well aware of Harry's feelings toward miss Granger and that is why I took a gamble in my suggestion. I am sorry to say the plan is not perfect, but things have been set in motion now that we cannot stop, we just have to have faith and hope for the best," Dumbledore replied sadly.

"Alright, what if they do attack the school directly?" Remus asked.

"There is a passage in the dungeons that leads underground and extends all the way to the Hogs Head in Hogsmeade. All of the staff are aware of this and any student below sixth year will escape by that means while anyone above that may stay and fight if they so choose," Dumbledore explained.

What they remained unaware of was that their worst fears would soon be realized as Voldemort ordered a pincer attack, one hundred Death Eaters assaulting the forest while another three hundred would attack the castle directly. Voldemort's hope was to win by sheer number.

~**~

Hermione leaned against the wall near the potions classroom reading over one of her assignments. At least, that is what it looked like she was doing, she was watching Draco as he had hurriedly entered Snapes classroom and the two had been in there for over an hour. Hermione detected several charms that Snape had obviously erected to keep out prying eyes and ears. Hermione was snapped from her post when Ron appeared and slid next to her as his arm found its way around her shoulder.

"So, any luck?" Ron asked.

"No not yet," Hermione replied while shrugging him off and stepping away from him.

"Come on let's take a break, you need to relax," Ron urged.

Hermione noticed lately that Ron was acting different, he was being much nicer to her. She found it quite endearing, but she also noticed that Neville had become increasingly hostile towards this new Ron. She made a mental note to ask him why.

"Yes, but I need to find Neville do you know where he is?" Hermione asked.

"Why do you want to talk to him?" Ron asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Because he's great at herbology and I need another opinion," Hermione lied.

"I think he's in the green house, Ill come with you," Ron offered.

"That's okay Ron I'll just meet you in the Common Room, I won't be very long," Hermione replied as she hurried off.

"You will be mine Hermione, I promise you that," Ron said to himself as he headed for the Common Room.

~**~

Hermione found Neville examining one of his plants closely, he looked up at her approach and smiled.

"Hi Hermione," Neville greeted.

"Hi Neville, I need to ask you about something," Hermione replied.

"Okay what is it?" Neville asked.

"Why are you so hostile to Ron?" Hermione asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, and if you did you wouldn't like what I would say," Neville replied.

"Come on Neville," Hermione pleaded.

"Fine, Ron is trying to take advantage of you now that Harry's...well now that Harry isn't around," Neville replied.

"I appreciate your concern Neville, but that won't happen," Hermione said kindly before turning and exiting the greenhouse.

"Merlin, I wish Harry was still alive," Neville breathed.

~**~

Lucius Malfoy stood in front of his army staring out onto the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He smirked as he went over the plan again in his head. Draco was going to open the gates for them and they would then storm the castle and kill any that resisted. His main concern though was Dumbledore as he was a very powerful wizard, but surely even he would not be able to fight all of them.

"Listen carefully! The Potter boy is dead! Our only concerning obstacle is that old fool Dumbledore! The staff inside are skilled but they will be no match for us! Our orders are thus, kill any that oppose us, the wise ones who surrender will be enslaved! We have gone over the points and paths through which the enslaved will be transported! Are we clear?" Lucius asked.

A rumble of yes and other forms of confirmation were given in answer to his question.

"Good, rejoice my brothers and sisters! Our new world is very close and you shall pave the way! Now let's go!" Lucius yelled.

The dark forces then started moving as one while the smaller force branched off to attack the forest. The centaurs had scouts roaming and one happened to spot the force heading right for the forest. She quickly made her way back to deliver the news.

"Death Eaters are marching on the forest! Maybe one hundred in number!" she cried to the centaurs.

"Firenze, alert the boy," the leader ordered.

"Wait! There is an even larger force that is headed for the school!" she cried.

"What? How many?" the leader asked.

"I estimate three hundred, maybe more," she replied.

"We cannot fight such a force, we will have to concentrate on the smaller force then with any luck we may be able to push them back," the leader said.

"I will alert the boy and his godfather, but they may wish to intervene at the castle instead of here," Firenze replied.

"Very well, we must be swift, hurry Firenze," the leader said.

AN: Okay there we go Ill stop there for now. Next chapter will be a large battle but of course Im throwing in a couple of twists to throw you all off. Can't have you knowing what's going to happen before I write it now can I? lol Anyway apologies again for the late update but leave a review and let me know what you think.

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Dragonthunder89


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I dont own Harry Potter so on and so forth.

AN: Hello readers! Again I apologize for the long gap but life gets in the way sometimes and Im sure you all can attest to that. A couple things first your reviews were good for the most part so thank you all it means a lot. One reviewer was bothered by my mention of Death Eaters in the beginning but if you look I added that for the sake of this storys plot it was necessary for some of them to escape. I apologize for any confusion. Now lets get this show on the road eh?

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Dragonthunder89

Fighting Alone

Harry sat by his campfire with Sirius reading up on advanced defense when Firenze appeared hurriedly.

"Hi Firenze, is something wrong?" Harry asked.

"I'm afraid so, three hundred Death Eaters are marching on Hogwarts and another one hundred are marching on the forest," Firenze replied.

"What?!" Harry demanded jumping up.

"We have to warn them!" Sirius cried.

"Sirius you go warn Dumbledore, I will follow after I make a few preparations here, Harry I know you want to help them but you must not enter the battle right away, because doing so could be catastrophic," Firenze explained.

"What? But why?!" Harry demanded.

"You must wait until they enter the castle and begin to spread out, they will be more vulnerable that way," Firenze replied.

"Oh I see, divide and conquer," Harry said.

"Right, now hurry they are almost to the castle," Firenze urged before disappearing again.

"That bastard," Harry growled.

"Okay Harry, make your way to the north side of the forest, you can see the enemy enter from there and then you can enter from the Quidditch Pitch, you can use your Firebolt for this," Sirius instructed.

"Okay, be careful Sirius," Harry replied.

Sirius nodded before turning into Padfoot and sprinting off in the direction of the castle while Harry headed for the north side of the forest. Where he watched in horror as massive numbers of Death Eaters marched towards the gates of Hogwarts. Harry noticed a boy sprinting towards the gate, it was Malfoy. Harry watched in growing anger as Malfoy used his wand to open the gates. That must have been one of his objectives, to learn how to unlock the gates.

Youve doomed us all you little ferret, accio Firebolt! Harry yelled.

~**~

Sirius entered the school and quickly made his way to Dumbledores office where he also found McGonagall.

"Sirius, this is a surprise, what can I do for you my friend?" Dumbledore asked kindly.

"Dumbledore, there are three hundred Death Eaters on there way here, they are close we have no time, another hundred are closing in on the forest," Sirius explained in a rush.

"This is very troubling indeed, however we must not panic. Minerva, round up all of the students and evacuate, those above fifth year who wish to stay and fight may do so," Dumbledore ordered.

"Albus, there are too many we won't win," McGonagall protested.

"We have to try Minerva," Dumbledore replied gently.

McGonagall nodded before quickly leaving. Dumbledore motioned for Sirius to sit down.

"Sirius, we might still have a chance, we must get the enemy to split up, the castles vast corridors will be sufficient for this, if we face them in the Great Hall we would surely lose," Dumbledore explained.

"Right, we must ensure the younger children escape first," Sirius replied.

"Of course, that is why you will go to the dungeons with Minerva and ensure that all goes smoothly, you must defend them as they escape," Dumbledore explained.

"Okay, be careful," Sirius replied.

~**~

McGonagall gathered her Gryffindors in the Common Room and quickly explained the situation. Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and several other older kids decided to stay and fight, McGonagall wished them all the best before leading the younger students off.

"So what do we do now?" Ginny asked.

"We fight," Neville replied.

"We need to stick together," Hermione suggested.

"Yeah, good idea," Ron replied.

"We should post at the secret passage in this corridor, then when they storm the castle we can surprise them," Hermione suggested.

"Brilliant, lets do it!" Neville agreed.

The four exited the Common Room and saw their fellow Gryffindors scatter to different parts of the castle to prepare for the impending battle.

~**~

Remus brought Tonks, Moody, Kingsley and fifty other aurors that were loyal to Dumbledore over the minister. As they too made preparations, the fifty aurors fortified the Great Hall while Remus and Tonks split up agreeing to assist the brave students who chose to stay and fight. Moody and Kingsley followed suit.

"We are sorely outnumbered," Tonks said.

"We still have a chance though, have faith Tonks," Remus assured.

The sounds of loud explosions followed by shouts and screams signaled that the battle for Hogwarts had begun. The two spotted three aurors retreating down the corridor they were in, firing at eight Death Eaters and quickly leapt into action to aid their allies.

~**~

Hermione noticed that she became the natural leader of the group of four as they concealed themselves in the passage, awaiting their enemy. She wished a certain emerald eyed wizard was beside her because as childish as it sounded, when he was with her she felt safe. It didnt matter what was going to happen if he was there because she knew he would protect her, like he always did. Plus he was better suited to the leader role. Several explosions reached their ears and Ron chanced a look out into the corridor and saw the body of an auror hurtle by, hit by a powerful curse.

"Bloody hell!" Ron cried.

"Shut up Ron!" Hermione hissed.

"Hey did you hear that?" one death eater asked.

"It came from this corridor, there is someone hiding here," a familiar voice replied.

Hermiones blood ran cold, she recognized that voice anywhere it was Dolohov. Ron seemed to recognize it also. Neville managed to peek out and pulled his head back in quickly and held up seven fingers indicating the number of enemies. Hermione nodded at the others and they sprang from their hiding spot, surprising the death eaters and their first battle began.

~**~

Harry flew with impressive speed past the Quidditch Pitch up to the south entrance. (AN: Not sure about the direction but let's just say its the south entrance). Harry jumped off his broom and sprinted into the castle and immediately found two aurors. One was wounded and the other was trying to defend him. Harry saw four death eaters opposite them and fired off four stunners with deadly precision, striking all four taking them down.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked running up to them.

"Y-you...you're Harry Potter! But you're dead!" one cried.

"We don't have much time, I faked my death to train for the coming battle with Voldemort, now get him to St. Mungos and then come back, we need all the help we can get," Harry ordered as he sprinted off down the hall.

Harry slid to a stop and moved his head backwards as a curse almost took his head off.

_Damn, alright calm down Harry or you are going to get yourself into trouble_ Harry scolded himself.

Another curse flew by and Harry quickly retaliated, putting the death eater out of commission. As Harry came to the large lobby with moving stairs he looked up and saw the brilliant colors of curses flying from all directions up above. He quickly started up the moving stairs and found himself engaging death eaters as the stairs crossed each other. Harry's heart soared as he spotted Remus and Tonks bravely defending against a group of eight death eaters on a nearby stairway. They had not seen him yet which Harry was thankful for as he watched the stairs' movement carefully before he jumped to the slightly lower stairway, tackling the eight death eaters. The mess of people rolled down the stairway but Harry had recovered easily thanks to his intense training and summoned black energy draining chains and chained all eight of them up tightly.

"Harry!!" Remus shouted.

Harry turned as both Tonks and Remus rushed to him and took turns hugging the young teen.

"I'm glad you are okay," Harry said.

"How? Harry Dumbledore told everyone you were killed!" Tonks cried tears still spilling from her eyes.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you Tonks, but Harry's death was a ruse in order to trick Voldemort," Remus replied.

"You knew?!" Tonks cried in accusation.

"Don't blame him Tonks, it was necessary in order for me to train," Harry defended.

"So then you being here means you are strong enough to defeat him?" Tonks asked hopefully.

"No, I am here to protect and help drive these scum out," Harry growled.

"Well, I guess that is the first step, McGonagall has already evacuated the younger students. But if I know her like I think I do, Hermione is still here somewhere with Ron," Tonks replied.

Harrys face darkened at the mention of Ron but he quickly hid it away.

"So where is everyone else?" Harry asked.

"We don't know, we saw Moody fighting by the green houses with some of the older students. We were fighting with some Hufflepuffs but..." Tonks trailed off as she shed more tears.

Harry surged with anger and he had a sudden thought, his instincts were going wild and his face went from angry to that of fear and horror.

"Harry? What is it?" Remus asked.

"Hermione is in trouble," Harry replied before sprinting up the staircase and hopping to an adjacent one.

Harry continued to climb upwards as his first guess was Gryffindor Tower where his love was in grave danger.

~**~

Hermione flew backwards from a shockwave curse and slid across the floor. After their initial surprise attack they managed to take out several of the death eaters but eight more soon joined them and subdued them. Neville had managed to take down one of the death eaters but Dolohov and another quickly subdued him and he struggled against the ropes that bound him helplessly as he watched Dolohov advance on Hermione who was getting back up. Ron and Ginny were in the same predicament. Hermione stood facing her enemy and attacked with ferocity catching them off guard once again by her power. She took out two more before a death eater surprised her from behind and disarmed her while Dolohov charged her and smashed into her knocking her down again but this time she was unarmed and at his mercy.

"Now, you are mine, I will enjoy this before I kill you," Dolohov said with a lustful look in his eye.

"I will see you soon Harry," Hermione whispered as she fought to keep her tears in check.

~**~

Sirius took down another death eater who had tried to stop the fleeing children. He counted nine so far that he had brought down. McGonagall finally came back through to double check for any stragglers.

"That is all of them I think," Sirius said.

"Very well, Sirius?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes?" Sirius asked.

Be careful, I have a bad feeling about this," McGonagall warned.

"I will you just protect the children," Sirius replied as he ran off to join the fight within the castle.

Dumbledore in the mean time, who was accompanied by Snape, Draco, and Pansy, Draco's girlfriend. Were quickly advancing into the courtyard as Snape told Dumbledore that Lucius along with several important death eaters were there.

~**~

Harry had navigated the stairs quickly and sprinted towards the Gryffindor Tower but stopped abruptly as he heard voices. He concealed himself behind one of the stone statues in that corridor and his breath caught. It was Dolohov and five others holding his friends hostage. Dolohov held Hermione close to him and they were heading for the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Might as well have some fun before I kill her, after we get in there, kill the others," Dolohov ordered.

"Let go of me you bastard!" Hermione raged.

Harry studied the party and noticed that two of the death eaters were not in some way restraining the other four and they were going to pass right by him. As they passed, Harry struck out and grabbed the nearest one, with his hand over the man's mouth and pulled him behind the statue where Harry struggled for a few seconds before he managed to snap the death eater's neck. The one next to him turned and noticed his comrade had disappeared.

"What the hell?" he asked stopping and looking around.

The others stopped as well and turned to the death eater with confused looks.

"Where did he go?" Dolohov asked.

"He was right here!" the man cried.

Harry chose this moment of confusion to act as he leapt out and grabbed the nearest death eater and snapped his wand arm making him scream in pain before he used the death eater as a shield. Four curses hit the death eater in the chest killing him. Harry used all of his strength to hurl the body at the four death eaters who were forced to let go of Ron, Neville and Ginny as everyone rolled out of the way. Dolohov managed to keep hold of Hermione and took advantage of the distraction to retreat into the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry quickly attacked the remaining death eaters putting them down. He sent flaming spells at the ropes binding his friends to free them before he sprinted forward and blasted the wall open with a powerful reducto spell. He wasn't going to let the sick bastard have a chance. Dolohov was there holding Hermione but Harry was faster as he summoned the fire in the hearth behind Dolohov to rise up and encircle its victim. Dolohov screamed and his grip on Hermione broke. Harry caught Hermione who was very weak and picked her up bridal style. Harry watched Dolohov scream and writhe for a few more seconds and quickly left Dolohov to his fiery fate screaming.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked gently looking down at the beautiful witch in his arms.

"H-Harry? Is it really you?" Hermione asked in pure shock.

"Yes, I'm here Hermione, you're safe now," Harry replied in a soothing voice.

"Oh Harry!!!" Hermione screamed as she crushed herself against him in a hug which he gladly returned and relished the feeling before he reluctantly put her down.

"Bloody hell you're supposed to be dead!" Ron cried.

"Harry you're alive!" Neville exclaimed.

"How is this possible?!" Ginny cried.

"My death was a fake, I had to deceive everyone, even you guys so I could train," Harry explained.

Harry felt Hermione's hand come in contact with his face as she slapped him hard but he didnt react except when his face turned to the right from the blow.

_'I deserve that'_ Harry thought.

"How could you?! Do you know the pain you have caused to us?! To me?!" Hermione screamed angrily.

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he turned abruptly and extended his wandless arm. A flaming hex shot out and engulfed a hidden death eater who was trying to surprise them.

"Bloody hell!" Ron cried in astonishment.

Harry noticed Ron came up next to Hermione and put his arm around her and looking at her with concern. Hermione gave him a small smile and assured him that she was okay.

"Harry you can do wandless magic?" Neville asked in astonishment.

"We don't have time for this, we need to move," Harry said coldly surprising everyone.

"What the bloody hell is his problem?" Ron asked.

Neville had noticed the dark expression on Harrys face at Ron and Hermione's exchange and realized he had misread it.

"Well he's right we have to go," Neville said as he started after Harry who had already began walking down the hall.

"So what's the plan? "Ginny asked as the rest caught up to Harry.

"We find Dumbledore, whatever happens stay out of the way," Harry said in that ice cold tone once again.

"Now listen here Harry," Ron started but Harry turned on his best mate and slammed him up against the wall.

"No, shut up and pay attention because I am only going to say this once Ron, you are far from ready to face what is to come so stay the fuck out of the way before you get somebody killed. This is not a game," Harry snarled as he released the boy and continued walking.

Ron wanted to argue but Neville quickly defused the situation by shaking his head and Ron reluctantly stayed quiet and followed Harry. Hermione was shocked and couldn't find any words to say anything. She missed the warm and caring boy she fell in love with. The month of training in the forest must have been harsh as Harry was very different. His body was packed with toned muscle, this new Harry was a cold warrior. They soon ran into Sirius who was out of breath.

"Harry! Good you're all okay, hurry I heard Dumbledore headed for the courtyard!" Sirius cried.

The group followed him quickly and were soon right outside of the courtyard when Harry stopped everyone and they all decided to look on unnoticed.

"Ah Dumbledore," Lucius greeted.

Harry saw that next to Lucius stood Bellatrix.

"Surrender peacefully Lucius there is no need for us to fight," Dumbledore replied.

"You really have no idea do you?" Lucius smirked.

It was then that Dumbledore noticed that Snape, Draco, and Pansy were all aiming their wands at him.

"Severus," Dumbledore said turning to the potions professor.

"Sorry headmaster, but you are the only thing standing between us and victory," Snape replied.

Taking advantage of his distraction, Dumbledore was disarmed from behind by Lucius and now stood defenseless as five wands pointed at him ready for the kill. This was it, Harry was going to put his theory to the ultimate test here and now.

"Those bloody traitors," Sirius growled.

"Hermione, give me your wand," Harry said.

"What? Why?" Hermione asked.

"Just trust me," Harry replied impatiently.

Hermione nodded and gave him her wand and Harry felt a warmth course through his body much like the sensation he had when he got his wand.

_'That's a good sign' _Harry thought optimistically.

"Remember what I said Sirius," Harry said seriously.

"I promise Harry," Sirius replied sadly.

Before anyone could inquire, Harry sprinted out into the courtyard. Lucius and Bellatrix stood side by side on one side of Dumbledore while Snape, Draco and Pansy stood on the other side. The five prepared to fire when Harry leapt into the middle and used a pushing spell to knock Dumbledore away before holding both wands out, aiming at both pairs.

"Phoenix Saevio!" Harry yelled.

"Avada Kedavra!" the five yelled in unison.

Harry's deadly attack, the Phoenix Rage exploded from both wands and smashed into the killing curses and Harry was now locked in a double power struggle. This feat could not be performed by any ordinary wizard as it took a great deal of power to sustain two curse dead locks. But Harry realized that even with his advanced power it was five against one and he couldn't over take them. Sirius and the others were about to intervene when a large group of death eaters appeared behind them. They had no choice but to hope Harry would be able to overcome them. Dumbledore looked on with shock and awe before he grabbed his wand and moved to help the others fight off the death eaters.

"Your power is impressive Potter! But you cannot hold us back forever!" Lucius taunted.

"Aww, baby Potter getting tired?" Bellatrix taunted.

"It's over scar head!" Draco yelled laughing.

"I am so pleased that I finally get the pleasure to exact my revenge on James by killing his son," Snape taunted.

Harry focused his thoughts and let his mind settle on his feelings for Hermione. He envisioned her beautiful smile and her words of encouragement and her overall beauty and he felt a power surging in his core and focused on it. Harry felt it slowly moving up his body and concentrated it to flow through to the wands in his hands.

_'We're in this together Harry'_ Hermione's voice echoed in his head.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" Harry screamed as an explosion of midnight blue erupted from both wands.

The explosive energy threw everyone nearby with an incredible force and the screams of Lucius, Bellatrix, Snape, Draco, and Pansy were heard before they were obliterated by the powerful spell. Harrys arms fell to his side and dropped both wands. He dropped to his knees and vaguely saw several figures rushing towards him as he fell to the ground and all went black.

AN: Okay I will end it there. So what did ya think? Let me know, will they save the castle? Will Harry be okay? Will he be able to defeat Voldemort? Well until next chapter!

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Dragonthunder89


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I dont own Harry Potter and all that so please dont sue Im broke lol.

AN: So many of you are probably confused, some thought it was a great last chapter. I liked it myself lol. Anyway Some of your questions will be answered in chapter 13!

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Dragonthunder89

Fighting Alone

Sirius and Hermione were the first to recover from being knocked down by the sheer amount of power Harry unleashed and rushed towards him as he collapsed.

"Harry!!" Hermione screamed.

"He's alive, but whatever he did it almost killed him," Sirius replied as he was feeling for a pulse.

The others soon joined them while keeping an eye out for enemies as Dumbledore also kneeled down next to the unconscious teen.

"Oh Harry what did you do?" Hermione asked as tears refused to stop falling.

Before anyone could reply the galloping of footsteps were heard and all shot up aiming their wands but stopped as Firenze came through with his bow in hand.

"Albus, I have come to inform you that most of the aurors are dead, Voldemort and fifty more death eaters are on their way here along with an army of Inferi," Firenze reported.

"Then I am afraid the castle is lost, we must flee," Dumbledore replied sadly.

Sirius picked Harry up but Firenze offered to carry him so Sirius could defend if they came under attack.

"Where will we go?" Neville asked.

"What is the situation in the forest Firenze?" Dumbledore asked.

"My brothers and sisters are fighting bravely but the area is to hot for us to go there and it is too close to Hogwarts," Firenze replied.

"I agree, we must flee to Grimmauld Place, it is the safest place for the time being and it is fairly large for us until we can figure out a plan," Dumbledore said.

"Are the wards around the castle still intact?" Hermione asked.

"I'm afraid that the apparition wards are since the death eaters did not apparate in," Dumbledore replied.

"We will just have to fight our way out," Neville said with a steely resolve that was rare from the usually timid boy.

"Right, lets go," Sirius replied.

"Wait! Harry isn't any good to anybody he will just slow us down!" Ron protested.

This time instead of retorting, Sirius was beat to the punch by Hermione who slapped him hard across the face.

"How dare you Ronald Bilius Weasley!! Even though he is very angry with you, Harry would never do something like that to you! He would fight to the death to protect you!! How could you even suggest such a thing?!!" Hermione raged.

"Let's all calm down for now we must escape before Voldemort gets here or all will be lost," Dumbledore cut in raising his hand.

The others agreed and started south towards the Quidditch pitch. Firenze agreed to help them reach the outskirts before he would part ways with them and rejoin his brothers and sisters in the fight that was raging in the forest.

"Look there they are!" a death eater shouted from a distance behind them.

"Shit!" Sirius cursed.

"Hurry!" Dumbledore urged.

They chanced a look back and saw six death eaters mount brooms and charge towards them.

"We won't make it!" Ginny yelled.

Firenze suddenly put Harry in Sirius's arms and turned drawing his bow and arrow.

"Go, I will buy you some time!" Firenze yelled as he fired and brought down one of the death eaters.

"Firenze no!" Hermione cried.

"Harry must survive or all will be lost!" Firenze replied.

"Be careful my friend!" Dumbledore called as they retreated.

They soon reached the apparition point and Dumbledore put his wand to his neck to call to the brave centaur.

"Flee Firenze we are leaving!" Dumbledore bellowed.

To his relief, the centaur heard him and sprinted off into the darkness as fast as he could. Some of the death eaters gave chase but the rest focused on the larger group.

"Okay we have to apparate everyone to Grimmauld, Sirius take Harry, and Hermione, I will take the other three," Dumbledore instructed.

Sirius nodded and the group of seven disappeared much to the dismay of the death eaters who shouted in anger.

~**~

Remus, Tonks, Moody, and Kingsley fought desperately but Moody advised retreat saying that before he rejoined them that he saw Dumbledore and Sirius retreat with the kids.

"Damn, okay lets get out of here!" Tonks cried as the four also retreated.

"My guess is they went to Grimmauld," Remus replied.

"Right, lets go," Moody grunted.

~**~

The seven arrived at Grimmauld Place and heaved a sigh of relief. Moments later more pops and Remus, Tonks, Moody, and Kingsley appeared.

"You made it out!" Sirius cried happily.

"Is everyone okay?" Tonks asked.

"All but Harry," Sirius replied.

They turned their attention to the young man in Sirius's arms who still hadn't awoken.

"What happened?" Remus asked with concern.

"It was truly amazing I must say, Harry saved my life and jumped in between Lucius, and Bellatrix on one side and Severus, Draco, and Pansy on the other side, pushed me away as I was unarmed, and with his and miss Granger's wand, became locked in a double clash on both sides of him, Dumbledore explained.

"A double deadlock?!" Remus cried in pure shock.

"But that's impossible! How did he manage to sustain power of that magnitude?" Tonks demanded.

"I have my suspicions but I cannot say for certain," Dumbledore replied smiling with a twinkle in his eyes at Hermione who looked at him with confusion.

"Will he be alright?" Remus asked.

"He just needs to sleep and rest for now, when his body is ready he will come to, I believe he just exerted a dangerous amount of power and his body fought to keep from ripping him apart," Dumbledore replied.

"Oh Harry," Hermione cried as she welled up with tears.

"Your safe now pup, I'm going to go put him to bed I'll be right back, Sirius said disappearing up the stairs.

"So what is going to happen now?" Ginny asked.

"Well Harry managed to kill Lucius, Bellatrix, Severus, Draco, and Pansy, so this will be a severe blow to Voldemort as I believe that Harry also killed Dolohov before that also. So with most of his high ranking death eaters gone, he will probably attack Azkaban, we must use this time to recover and prepare ourselves for the battle at Hogwarts is nothing to the coming battle, I only hope that young Harry manages to come through without destroying himself," Dumbledore explained.

"A brave boy, Potter. His parents would be extremely proud," Moody uttered.

They were interrupted by another pop and in walked McGonagall who looked exhausted.

"Minerva my dear are you alright? Are the children safe?" Dumbledore asked.

"I'm okay, yes they are safe. I heard that Hogwarts is lost, oh Albus what do we do now?" Minerva asked.

"We must have faith Minerva," Dumbledore replied as he went on to explain what had happened at the castle and Harry's amazing feat.

"But for now we must all rest, everyone is tired from the battle," Dumbledore said.

"Kingsley and I will return to the ministry to survey what is going on," Moody replied.

"Good idea be careful," Dumbledore said.

Luckily Grimmauld was large enough to house everyone. Hermione was set in her decision to look after Harry. So Ron, Neville, Sirius, and Remus crashed in one room while Ginny, Tonks, and McGonagall took another and Dumbledore decided to stay up in case word arrived about what was going on outside came in.

~**~

Voldemort strolled the halls of the castle and took satisfaction in seeing the number of dead bodies strewn about, some were aurors while others were the older kids who decided to stay and fight. There were only a few survivors, among them were Luna Lovegood, and Amelia Bones.

"Crabbe, Goyle, what is our situation?" Voldemort demanded.

"Well my lord, there is no sign of Lucius or his son, or Dolohov, or Bellatrix for that matter," Crabbe replied.

"What?! Damn you Dumbledore!" Voldemort raged unaware of the fact that it was actually Harry Potter who had been responsible.

"Most were killed my lord, but some did manage to escape," Goyle added.

"Very well, take the prisoners to the dungeons and lock them up, oh but first make sure you order them to dispose of their dead first, then lock them up," Voldemort ordered.

"Yes my lord, also I thought you should know that Arthur and Molly Weasley are holed up at there home," Crabbe replied bowing.

"Have Viktor take some men and kill them we don't need anymore annoyances or interferences. Now, we just need to wipe out those meddlesome centaurs in the forest, I should have sent more than I did, but no matter Hogwarts belongs to me now!" Voldemort cried as his cold laughter rang throughout the corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

~**~

"NO!!" Harry screamed as he shot up in bed.

"Oh my god Harry!" Hermione cried as she leapt out of her bed and was at his side.

Harry was sweating and his eyes were darting around in panic.

"It's okay Harry, I'm here, shh," Hermione soothed as she wrapped her arms around him.

At first, Harry tensed but relaxed as he realized where he was, at Grimmauld Place and he returned Hermiones hug as her soothing voice was calming him down. The door burst open as Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and Dumbledore burst into the room. McGonagall followed soon after with Ginny, Neville, and Ron.

"Harry!" Sirius cried as he embraced his godson while Hermione made room for the older man to do so.

"Sirius, what happened?" Harry asked.

"The castle was lost we were forced to retreat," Sirius replied as he stood back up.

He noticed Hermione had not left his side and smiled but said nothing.

"So everyone is okay then?" Harry asked.

"Yeah we're okay, but are you Harry?" Hermione asked with deep concern in her voice.

"I'll be okay I just...argh!" Harry growled clutching his head.

"Harry?!" Hermione cried in fear.

After a moment Harry breathed heavily before he jumped out of bed surprising everyone.

"Harry take it easy you need to rest," Tonks advised.

"Not yet, it's Voldemort, his death eaters are after Arthur and Molly we have to get there first!" Harry cried as he disapparated.

"Wait Harry! Damn!" Sirius cried as he followed suit.

Dumbledore, Hermione, Remus, Tonks, and McGonagall followed suit. Followed by Neville, Ron, and Ginny soon after.

~**~

Harry appeared right outside of the Burrow and sprinted towards the house. As he made to open the door a curse hit the door right above his head.

"Shit!" Harry cursed as he saw a group of black advancing in the distance.

Harry tried the door but found it locked so he kicked it open and rushed in shouting to Arthur and Molly. He rushed from room to room before he came to their bedroom where he knocked.

"Come in," came Arthurs voice.

Harry burst in ready to grab them but stopped dead in his tracks.

"Krum!" Harry snarled.

"Potter," Viktor greeted.

Viktor stood there with a broadsword held to Arthur's throat and his wand held to Molly's throat.

"Harry! Run!" Arthur yelled.

"Let them go Krum, your business is with me," Harry growled.

"Yes it is, but tell me Potter, how is your relationship with Ron?" Viktor asked.

"What does that have to do with...? Oh god no please!" Harry yelled.

"Go to Azkaban, agree to go to Azkaban and I will spare them," Viktor replied.

"Fine, you have my word, now let them go," Harry ordered.

Viktor smiled sadistically as he dragged the blade of his sword across Arthurs throat. Blood started oozing down his neck as he collapsed to the floor and with equal ferocity, He quickly slashed Mollys neck and then leapt out the window and flew away.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Harry screamed as he kneeled down and tore the bed sheets off the bed and tried to stop the blood from rushing out of their bodies.

He was covered in blood as he stubbornly refused to believe they were dead. Finally after he was up to his elbows in blood he heard movement behind him and turned to fight but stopped when he saw Dumbledore, McGonagall, Remus, and Sirius. They stared at the bloody scene in horror. Harry turned and collapsed to his knees and smashed his fists into the floor and yelled in anger.

"Damn it all!!" Harry raged.

Sirius grabbed Harry and embraced him and pulled him away at the same time. The others had taken care of the approaching death eaters but were shocked when they saw Harry covered in blood.

"Oh my god what happened?!" Hermione cried.

"What about...?" Ron trailed off but noticed that the blood was not Harrys.

"No...no!" Ron screamed as he sprinted for the room with Ginny close behind.

"Damn you Harry!" Ron screamed.

Harry discreetly summoned for his Firebolt as to not alert the others. Harry walked outside followed by Sirius, Hermione, Neville, and Tonks.

"I'm tired of running," Harry said.

Before any of them could respond, Harry's Firebolt appeared and Harry leapt on and sped off.

"Harry!!" Hermione screamed

"Merlin there he goes again," Sirius sighed as he rushed to the Weasley's shed to retrieve one of their brooms.

"You mean he's done this before?!" Hermione demanded.

"Afraid so pup, sorry I need to hurry after him, he's wicked fast and this broom won't keep up but I think I know where he's going," Sirius replied.

"How?" Hermione asked.

Sirius pointed to the side of the house and Hermione's hand flew up to her mouth as she saw in big red letters written in blood.

Azkaban

Before Hermione could say anything else Sirius shot off into the air.

"Oh really he's as bad as Harry!" Hermione cried.

Tonks and Neville said nothing as they headed back inside with Hermione to tell the others.

~**~

Harry flew with unimaginable speed towards Azkaban. After about an hour of flying he could see the island with the towering prison. Harry urged his broom to go a little faster but soon felt very cold. Several Dementors were moving to intercept him but Harry conjured Prongs and the brilliant white stag rushed the cloaked monsters letting Harry break through and near the island. Harry saw that the prison was under siege by Inferi. The overwhelming numbers were pushing back the few defenders of the prison. Harry heard a loud bird call and snapped his head left. He was shocked to see the phoenix Fawkes flying towards him. Harry stopped in mid air as the bird approached. Fawkes dropped the brilliant Sword of Gryffindor into Harry's hand and Harry heard a voice inside his head.

_'Fight Harry Potter, fight for the free world'_ the voice echoed.

Harry turned back to Fawkes who was already flying away and soon disappeared. Harry noticed he was no longer alone and saw his godfather in the distance.

"You can't run off like that Harry, at least not without me," Sirius said grinning.

Harry grinned back before turning to the task at hand.

"Ready?" Harry asked.

"Always," Sirius replied.

The two charged down to the front of the front gate where the Inferi had pushed into. Harry drew his wand and while slashing with his sword, was casting various flaming hexes. Sirius was doing the same thing and with the small reinforcements, the defenders gained new morale and fought back with newfound strength. Several pops could be heard and Harry saw Dumbledore, McGonagall, Remus, Tonks, Moody, Kingsley, Hermione, and Neville appear to join the fight. Dumbledore conjured an enormous flaming hex and used it to wipe out large pockets of Inferi. Hermione watched Harry with awe as he beheaded a nearby Inferi and torched another with his wand.

"Fight back! Show Voldemort that he will lose!" Dumbledore bellowed to inspire the fighters.

Several shouts answered him as they fought on and started to drive the Inferi back. Harry stopped when the crowd of Inferi parted and the one controlling them walked forward purposefully, Viktor Krum. Harry in turn mimicked his actions, Harry noticed a dark black and crimson aura was surrounding Viktor who smirked confidently as Harry stopped in front of him.

"You will pay Krum," Harry growled.

"When I am through killing you, Hermione will be next," Viktor taunted.

Rage took hold in the pit of Harry's stomach but Harry focused it instead of letting it control him and without warning, charged Viktor with sword raised. Viktor laughed and did the same as the two blades clashed together. Viktor was a superb swordsmen as he attacked with impressive combos. Harry managed to deflect his blows well enough though. Viktor crouched and made to slash Harrys legs but Harry flipped forward over Viktor's crouched form. Viktor turned to face Harry only to find the Sword of Gryffindor embedded in his heart.

"Go to hell, your master will be joining you soon," Harry growled as he retracted the sword and spun around beheading Viktor Krum in the process.

Harry's right arm was bleeding from a blow by Viktor but otherwise he was unharmed. He noticed the others had finished with the Inferi.

"We have won my friends!" Dumbledore announced as everyone gathered around.

"So what now?" Kingsley asked.

"We must make a stand, this is it," Harry replied walking up next to Dumbledore.

"Are you mad?!" a guard asked.

"We gather everyone we can from the ministry, anyone you know who is willing to fight with me. Because tomorrow, I will march on Hogwarts and face Voldemort. It will all be decided there," Harry answered.

"Where will we attack them from?" Tonks asked.

"I believe we can all meet in Hogsmeade and push from there," Dumbledore answered.

"Great, now go, tomorrow I am going to end this war and I need everyone's help so go and recruit any and every witch or wizard you can. We will meet at Hogsmeade as soon as the sun goes down," Harry replied.

"Professor, where are Ron and Ginny?" Harry asked.

"We broke the news to the rest of the Weasleys they are all at the Burrow. Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Percy...yes Harry Percy, Fred and George," Dumbledore replied.

"Well I guess I have two things to do before tomorrow night then," Harry replied as he turned his gaze on a beautiful bushy haired witch.

AN: Okay there we go! That was fun, so I'm thinking two maybe three more chapters? Anyway I am thinking about doing a sequel to this story what do you guys think? Let me know and until next chapter!

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Dragonthunder89


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter if I did it would not have turned out like it did lol.

AN: Hi everyone thanks for the feedback! Okay so mostly going to be a quiet chapter because there are only two chapters left after this one. Some seemed to go for a sequel and I'm leaning on writing one so I guess we'll see it all depends on you guys lol. Okay then on with the story!

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Dragonthunder89

Fighting Alone

Harry scanned the bloody scene before him. He didn't know how long he stood there but he was startled from his thoughts by his godfather who put a hand on his shoulder.

"Harry, let's go, we need to pay our respects to Arthur and Molly," Sirius said.

"They've been buried already?" Harry asked in surprise.

"We can give them a proper ceremony after we end this war, come," Sirius beckoned.

Harry and Sirius apparated to the Burrow where he found Remus, Tonks, Hermione, Dumbledore, Moody, Kingsley, Neville, and a few of the defenders of Azkaban. The children were a mess as Harry noticed they were in the backyard where they all stood around two freshly dug graves. Harry approached them with Sirius and began to embrace them one by one. But when Harry approached Ron, Ron simply walked away from him.

"Ron wait a minute," Harry started.

"Let him go son," Sirius cut in.

Harry reluctantly did so and approached the graves where he collapsed to his knees in front of them.

"It's all my fault, I wasn't strong enough to save you. Forgive me, you were both so kind to me but I promise that Voldemort will pay with his life," Harry vowed.

Harry then stood and walked away from the group who were all still mourning. Hermione however, gave chase to the troubled wizard.

"Harry," Hermione said as she caught him.

"Hermione?" Harry asked as he turned to her.

"Harry it wasn't your fault," Hermione replied.

"No, it was Voldemort's fault, but Hermione, even with my new power, I am not strong enough to kill him," Harry said.

"Yes you are, listen to me," Hermione argued as she stepped closer and took his face in her hands.

"We all have faith in you Harry, I have faith in you and I know you can kill him, because I know what the power he knows not is," Hermione continued.

"Yeah love I know," Harry replied.

"Yes, you have that power now Harry," Hermione said.

"Huh?" Harry asked confused.

"It's me, I love you Harry Potter," Hermione replied as her eyes glistened.

Harry felt like he was just broadsided, he never expected that, he knew he had loved her for a long time but to hear her confess it herself was amazing. Now finally Harry knew that he could end it, all the pain all the suffering and all of the death, if for no other reason he would do it for her and so he smiled lovingly at her and replied.

"I love you to Hermione Granger," Harry replied as he captured her lips in a passionate kiss to which she gladly responded.

Sirius watched the two with a smile, he was glad that Harry finally found her, he finally had his true love. Dumbledore also observed the two with a twinkle in his eyes, but not even Dumbledore knew what was going to happen or just how powerful Hermione would make Harry. The two were suddenly interrupted as a voice cried out in rage.

"Stupefy!!" Ron screamed.

Harry was torn from Hermione and hit the ground hard. Harry recovered easily however but as he rose to confront his adversary he found none other than Ron Weasley pointing his wand at him.

"Ron! What the bloody hell are you doing?!" Harry demanded.

"Because of you, my parents are dead! But on top of that you want to take her away from me as well!! Expelliarmus!" Ron yelled.

Harry's wand flew from his hand but he did not look afraid at all, in fact he looked rather pissed off.

"Ron!!!" Hermione screamed angrily.

"No everyone stay back!" Harry ordered.

Ron fired another stunner but Harry easily batted it away with a wandless shield charm.

"All you have ever done to my family is hurt them and put them in danger, but no it wasn't enough you had to go and get my parents killed! Why did you do it?! So that we would be able to understand how you feel?!" Ron demanded.

"How dare you accuse me of such a thing Ron, no one should ever experience what I have! When did you lose sight of everything? When I faked my death I had to give up everything that I had left, everything! You had a whole month without me around so how did I take her away from you? When she told me she loved me even I was shocked. I never expected her to return my feelings. Why do you hate me Ron? I know that I haven't been perfect and that I made mistakes but I am trying to rectify them," Harry asked.

"You can't bring my parents back anymore than you can bring yours back!" Ron snarled.

"No but I can kill the one responsible for everything, I can end this war to ensure he never kills again..." Harry trailed off.

There was something off about Ron, Harry couldn't help but feel that the aura Ron was giving off was somehow...evil. Then Harry realized what it was, Ron was about to do something not even Harry thought he would do.

"Avada..." Ron started.

"Expelliarmus!!" Dumbledore bellowed.

As soon as Ron was disarmed he was tackled by Sirius and Kingsley. As they brought him to his feet Moody grabbed a hold of him as well.

"Ron how could you?!" Hermione screamed.

"Ronald Weasley you are under arrest," Kingsley stated formally.

"Attempting to cast the Avada Kedavra curse on another wizard will not have a trial during times of hostility as you may know and you will be sent directly to Azkaban to await trial in the presence of the Wizenmot," Moody added.

Dumbledore shook his head sadly while the others stood with mouths agape as Moody snapped Ron's wand in half before he and Kingsley apparated away.

"Come on pup, lets go home," Sirius said.

Harry nodded and felt Hermione wrap her arm in his and turned to smile down at her. She returned his smile although the sadness over this new shock was evident in her teary eyes, before the three of them apparated to Grimmauld Place. Dumbledore stayed as did the others to help the other Weasleys cope and to prepare them for the impending battle.

~**~

Back at Grimmauld, Sirius, Harry, and Hermione sat in the living room to digest everything that had happened.

"So you two finally found your way to each other, I am so happy for you," Sirius said smiling at the two who were currently cuddled up with each other on the sofa.

"I never could have imagined that it would feel this good," Harry admitted.

Hermione giggled before laying her head on his shoulder while Sirius chuckled at his godson.

"I can't believe Ron would try to kill you," Sirius admitted.

"I lost him after the battle at the ministry, the deaths of his parents he couldn't take and so he needed a culprit and he also hates me so this gave him an excuse," Harry explained.

"Wow Harry, when did you become so insightful?" Hermione asked in awe.

"A month in a pitch black forest can do that to you," Harry replied.

"Harry, how long have you been...you know, in love with me?" Hermione asked.

"I think I am going to step down to the gym for a bit, you kids take the night and relax. Maybe we can do a bit of light workout tomorrow before resting in the evening before.." Sirius trailed off.

"Good idea Sirius," Harry agreed.

"Right I'll leave you to it then," Sirius replied.

"So?" Hermione asked.

"I think I have loved you since our third year," Harry confessed.

"That long?" Hermione asked quietly in shock.

"That long, yeah," Harry replied.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione asked as she cupped his face in her hands.

"I was afraid, I was afraid that if Voldemort found out he would come after you," Harry replied.

"Oh Harry, you know that you weren't able to keep me away anyway," Hermione half teased.

"With you by my side I know now that we can do this," Harry replied.

Hermione nodded before capturing his lips in a passionate kiss that soon turned heated as Harry's tongue prodded her mouth. Hermione granted him entrance as they explored each others mouths. They had to pull away for air eventually but Hermione stood up and grabbed Harry's hand. Harry stood also and let Hermione lead him upstairs to his bedroom where they would make love for the first time. (AN: Sorry no details...yet lol I know I'm evil).

~**~

The next day came early as Harry had been used to waking up so early. But today was different for a number of reasons. The most important one was asleep with her head on his chest and her legs intertwined with his own. Harry gazed down at Hermione lovingly as she slept, she looked so peaceful that Harry didnt have the heart to wake her but he had a lot to prepare for today and this evening before they marched on Hogwarts to end this war. Harry successfully managed to disentangle himself without waking her and left the room to get cleaned up. As Harry headed down to the kitchen he found Sirius up already drinking his coffee with the paper in his hands.

"Good morning pup, I didn't expect you to be up after your...tiring engagement last night," Sirius greeted with a smirk.

"Sod off," Harry replied chuckling as he joined his godfather at the table.

"So tonight is it isn't it?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, I can feel it, Voldemort will die tonight, I will see to it," Harry replied.

"I received an owl from Dumbledore this morning, he says that you should carry the Sword of Gryffindor to battle like Godric did long ago," Sirius said as he pointed to the mystical weapon resting in an equally magnificent scabbard on the counter.

Harry unsheathed the weapon and studied it with wonder before he realized Sirius was speaking to him again.

"Harry, Dumbledore also said the sword holds a vast amount of magical power waiting to be harnessed by the right person and he believes you are that person. Well in any case it will be effective against Inferi," Sirius explained.

"Yeah, this came in handy yesterday," Harry agreed.

"He also told me that in order to destroy Voldemort you must draw power from your true love, in this case Hermione," Sirius continued.

"How do I do that?" Harry asked.

"I don't know pup, but perhaps when the time comes you will figure it out," Sirius assured.

Harry suddenly had a thought, he remembered back to when he used Hermione's wand to combat the death eaters and because it was Hermione he was able to explode with power.

"Of course!" Harry cried jumping up.

"What is it Harry?" Sirius asked.

"I'm such a bloody idiot, when I fought at the castle last time I was able to use Hermione's wand and draw off of her power through her wand. This connection must work both ways," Harry explained.

"She can draw from your power in the same way, but how does that help you defeat him? Raw power won't win," Sirius replied.

"Because, when I face Voldemort, she must face him with me in the final showdown only she will fight with my wand and I will fight with her wand," Harry explained.

"Merlin! That's it! She will force her magic through your wand making it twice as strong and vice versa!" Sirius exclaimed.

"But, she would have to be beside me when I fight him for the final showdown," Harry replied with a little fear.

"There is nowhere else I would be but at your side to help you defeat him baby," Hermione interrupted entering the kitchen.

"Good morning beautiful, how much did you hear?" Harry asked embracing her and giving her a peck on the lips.

"Enough to finally understand how you must carry out the prophecy," Hermione replied.

"But Hermione, I can't ask you to do that," Harry argued.

"You won't ask because I am going to be beside you whether you like it or not. Because I love you and I refuse to watch you fight alone," Hermione replied.

"I love you so much," Harry said.

"I love you to," Hermione replied as they shared another kiss.

"Now that I know what needs to be done, I have to teach you the spell we will use to fight him," Harry said turning serious.

"The one you used before you collapsed?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, it is called Phoenix Rage and requires a great deal of power, but I know you can handle it," Harry replied confidently.

After breakfast, Harry and Hermione spent a large portion of the afternoon doing just that, and not surprisingly, Hermione caught onto the spell very quickly until finally they were confident that she had it down. They realized it was late afternoon and decided to get something to eat. Sirius had watched them practice for awhile but eventually started to prepare for the battle that night. After Hermione was confident in her ability to cast the spell they joined Sirius with various exercises. Harry also explained that they would be switching wands for the battle, after Harry explained it, Hermione was upset with herself that she hadn't figured that out sooner.

"I can't believe the answer to all of this was right in front of us!" Hermione pouted.

"Hey don't worry the important thing is, we know what to do. We will end this war and make him pay for everything he has done," Harry reassured her.

The three headed back upstairs as they were practicing in the basement. Sirius busied himself polishing one of his swords for the battle.

"Hey you two, by the way pup you learned that spell extremely fast very well done," Sirius said to Hermione.

"Well, I had a good teacher," Hermione said poking Harry gently in the ribs.

"So, we have three hours until sun down we should probably eat and relax until then," Sirius suggested.

"I hope it was enough," Harry replied.

"You have endured so much Harry, I love you too much and I won't let you fail," Hermione assured him.

"That's right pup, she is your strength not to mention our allies, we have some very impressive witches and wizards among us," Sirius added.

"You're right, but we must be extra careful," Harry replied.

"Yes, now, let's eat and try to relax we will need our strength," Sirius said.

The three had a rather pleasant meal and talked about random things until they managed to come back to the subject of the impending battle. But after a round of encouragement for each other Harry suddenly thought of something.

"Sirius, what about the centaurs? Are they okay?" Harry asked.

"We don't know, Dumbledore is trying to get in contact with them before tonight," Sirius replied.

"Dobby!" Harry called suddenly.

The little elf appeared next to them looking up at Harry excitedly.

"Master Harry Potter sir!" Dobby exclaimed hopping up and down.

"It is good to see you are you okay?" Harry asked.

"Yes Harry Potter, Dobby knows you are going to war tonight sir," Dobby replied.

"Yes, Dobby, tonight Voldemort will fall," Harry said.

"Dobby has already organized the other elves sir, we is prepared to fight for you Harry Potter!" Dobby squealed proudly.

"This took Harry by surprise and by the looks on Sirius's and Hermione's faces, they were shocked as well.

"That is excellent Dobby, but please be safe tonight okay?" Harry requested.

"Yes Harry Potter sir, does you want anything else?" Dobby asked.

"Actually Dobby I wonder if you could find out how the centaurs are doing huh?" Harry asked.

Dobby nodded vigorously before he popped away once again leaving the three alone. They sat in silence for awhile not saying anything until Sirius noticed the time.

"We should go, it will be dark soon, Hogsmeade right?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, are you guys ready?" Harry asked.

The two nodded and they proceeded to apparate to Hogsmeade. Dumbledore had suggested that they meet at Honeydukes, or rather outside of Honeydukes. Before they apparated Hermione stopped them.

"What if they are in control of Hogsmeade to?" Hermione asked.

"We will have to take that chance," Harry replied.

But Dobby reappeared looking rather anxious.

"Master Harry Potter sir, Hogsmeade has suffered heavy damage but the centaurs have managed to hold it, they await your arrival sir," Dobby reported.

"Excellent, thank you Dobby," Harry replied.

They apparated to Hogsmeade and Harry took in their surroundings. Dobby wasn't kidding, many of the buildings were completely destroyed, some were badly damaged but Harry saw numerous centaurs, most of them were patrolling.

"Harry! Hermione! Sirius!" Firenze called trotting towards them.

"Firenze! You're alright!" Harry cried happily.

"Yes, we were pushed out of the forest and took casualties but they have stopped their assaults for the moment, Voldemort must know of our plans," Firenze explained.

"Well, unfortunately, he's not stupid so you're probably right," Harry agreed.

Dumbledore and McGonagall soon arrived followed shortly by Remus and Tonks who joined them. As they exchanged greetings, Harry was surprised to see Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, and Ginny join them.

"Hey guys, it's good to have you here, where's Percy?" Harry asked.

"Oh he's on his way, he is coming with the minister," Bill replied.

"You know what? I don't even know the new minister," Harry realized.

They were interrupted as numerous people arrived and at the head was Percy, Moody, Kingsley, and Harry guessed the man in the middle was the minister. Harry was shocked, there had to be at least a hundred aurors, in fact there were probably more. Neville soon joined them also. The minister approached Harry who was talking with Remus and Tonks with Hermione engaging every so often.

"So Harry Potter we meet at last, I am Minister Rufus Scrimgeour," Rufus greeted offering his hand.

"Nice to meet you," Harry replied cordially.

"They tell me you are leading the assault," Rufus said.

"Well, part of it yeah, I had a big hand in the strategy if that is what you mean," Harry replied.

"Shouldn't someone with more experience in leading take charge?" Rufus asked.

"What you mean you?" Harry asked already knowing the answer.

"Well...yes," Rufus replied.

"Arrogant bastard aren't you?" Harry asked smirking.

Hermione gasped and Sirius snorted trying to cover his laugh while several others looked on in shock.

"Now you listen here young man, we are not so different you and I," Rufus began.

"Wanna bet?" Harry challenged.

"How dare you speak to me that way I am the Minister of Magic!" Rufus thundered.

"I am the Boy Who Fucking Lived, nice to meet you minister, get off your power trip and wake up! This is not about glory, its not about honor, its about freedom, the freedom to live and the freedom to live without fear," Harry shot back.

"Don't lecture me boy!" Rufus snarled.

"Calm down minister, the normal chain of command doesn't exist in this fight, we are all equals," Dumbledore intervened.

"Right, minister I will gladly turn your leadership over to you once we end this because it doesn't interest me I just want peace and quiet and to be left alone again," Harry explained.

"Everyone! It is time!" Dumbledore bellowed using his wand to make his voice heard.

The centaurs took the lead and started out of Hogsmeade, followed by the fighters of the light as they marched towards what would be the greatest battle of their time.

AN: Okay there we go! Tensions are high, who will win? Will Harry be able to kill Voldemort? Find out in the next chapter! Only two more left. But I've decided to do a sequel so until then!

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Dragonthunder89


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